The Impure
by Nemarra
Summary: AU. There is no Dark Lord, only a prejudice society set on blood purity. Enslaved and beaten, the 'impures' are ready to change all that... or die trying. HHr RLNT Re-write of 'unpure'.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: Didn't own it when I wrote the first copy of this story, how would I suddenly own it now?_

_Ladies and Gentlemen…The long awaited re-making of "the Unpure". Thank you everyone who voted, and waited long and hard for this. I do hope I will not disappoint. So without further a due…_

The Impure

Nemarra

Prologue

In the quiet of night, a little cottage sat with the same tranquil peace as the rest of the small town. That same peace could be found within the walls. Within was a young family getting settled into bed for the night.

The young father walked into the nursery carrying his two-year old son. He settled the youngster in the crib with a gentle kiss to his forehead. "Night, son," he said softly.

"Nigh' dada," the boy mumbled back. As the young father made to leave the room, his son spoke again. "Dada?"

"Yes Harry?"

"Wan' Paddy." Sure enough, the toy black dog the child's godfather had bought for him lay on the dresser instead of within the crib.

"Here you go, son," he smiled as he handed his son the toy. He watched as the boy cuddled into it before falling off to sleep. He continued to stand there a little while just watching the gentle rise and fall of his son's chest. Only a slight creek on the hallway floor boards drew his attention to the door. He smiled upon noticing it was his wife.

She smiled back and entered the room. He snaked his arm around her waist as they shared a gentle kiss. Cuddled against one another, the young couple looked at their son. "Amazing, isn't he?" she said.

"What do you expect. He's a Potter after all," he answered with a slight puff of pride to his chest.

"Of course, love," she giggled lightly under her breath. She reached down to move some messy dark bangs out of her son's eyes. She also leaned in to kiss the babe's head. "He looks so much like you," she said once again cuddled into her husband's embrace.

"Poor lad," he joked. "He's going to have a hell of a time with his hair." This gained a light nudge from his giggling wife.

"I hope we have another soon. I would love for Harry to have a little brother or sister," she said wishfully.

"That is the best idea I've heard all night, darling."

"Really?"

"Why not? How does a little girl sound? Then the Potter family will have two beautiful women in it."

"Are you sure?" she teased. "She will eventually become a teenager you know."

"Two words, love. Big brother." This gained light hearted laughter from them both.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too," he answered leaning in for a kiss.

Just as their lips met there was a loud knock at the door. Both parents froze suddenly worried. The knock came again more loudly. They had purposefully told all that mattered not to knock when visiting. Clearly this was someone that was not close to them. "Stay here with Harry," the husband said softly to his wife. Gulping slightly, the young mother quickly scooped up her child and watched her husband leave for downstairs.

Tense as a board, the young man peeked out the drawn curtain of the window. At least two dozen professional looking people stood outside in his yard. It was as he feared. He need not wonder how they had found this place. There was only one 'friend' he knew of that had been acting particularly distant from him. Especially since his marriage. He would kill that rat later. For now, his concerns were on his wife and child upstairs with no escape from this all muggle abode. He brought together all the courage in him, and carefully opened the door with the chain lacked. "Hello?" he asked.

"James Potter?" the lead man asked.

"Who's asking?"

"I am William Knol, representative of the Department of Magical Management…"

"So a blood purist," James spat.

As though nothing had passed, the man continued, "… we have received word that as of October 1st, 1979 one James Potter, heir of the noble and most ancient house of Potter, had married one Lily Evans. Is that correct, Sir?"

"Yes," James answered steely.

"Are you aware Miss Evans is a muggleborn?"

"That's Mrs Potter, and of course I know."

"Are you also aware marriage between muggle-born and pure-bloods are not permitted?"

"Yeah, and I don't really care. So get off my property and leave me and my wife be," James made to close the door, but Mr Knol stopped him.

"I'm not finished, Mr Potter."

"Well I am," James said while adding an extra shove to close the door. Mr Knol had been smart enough to move his hand out of the way before it closed on him.

Knowing what was to come, James backed away from the door and drew his wand. As predicted, a blasting hex made short work of the wood door. The ministry officials marched in through the opening; each armed with their own wand. James quickly fired off a couple stunners managing to hit one of the guards. "I told you to leave!" He said fiercely. He swiftly summoned a shield when several different jinxes were sent his way.

The fight continued on strong with James holding off ten at a time. He was momentarily distracted when he noticed a few extra fighters heading up the stairs. James made to fire, but was shot down with a body binding hex. He watched and listen in horror as aurors stormed up to the nursery. His heart sunk into his stomach when he heard Lily's shouts and Harry's cries. Before long, the little family was together in the living room surrounded on all sides. The jinx was removed from a now wand-less James. He stood and held his frightened wife and child.

"This is worse than we first expected," Mr Knol spoke to the aurors. "An heir produced within an illegal marriage complicates this much more. Mr Potter, are you aware that these crimes, as well as your known aid in the Impure Rebellion are punishable by death?"

"Yes," James nodded sternly.

"Why do it then?"

"Because I love this woman so damn much. She ten times the witch of all of you combined." James' words gained a small, adoring smile from Lily.

"Miss Evans…" Mr Knol started.

"Mrs Potter," James growled.

"Your blood status states you are not allowed to live outside of ruling by one of document purity status. Nor are you permitted to marry, let alone bare the heir, of any documented pure. The crime for damaging wizarding bloodline is life imprisonment. Take into account your known aid in the Impure Rebellion as well use of love potion on a pure…"

"Love potion!" both Lily and James shouted in disbelief.

"Of course," Mr Knol stated calmly as though he were speaking to ignorant children. "The Potter family is noble and true to it's roots. It's only heir would not sully him and his family with one of your kind."

Lily paused a moment. Then carefully she said, "If I had been using love potion on James, would the charges on him be dropped?" Beside her, James gave a curious look. It was clear he was wondering what his wife was up to.

"Are you admitting to using such means, Miss Evans?"

"I want to know what would happen to James and Harry before I say anything," Lily answered.

"Lily…" James made to interrupt catching onto his wife's plan. She shushed him, and waited for Mr Knol to speak.

"Mr Potter would be freed from his charges since he clearly was doing everything outside of his free will. As for the child produced, since you are still a witch, that makes young Harry have both magical parents. If Mr Potter desired to keep the child, he could apply for documentation as a first generation pure. He won't be recognized as the Potter Lord, or even heir should Mr Potter have another child in the future with a proper witch. He would be monitored when it comes to work, where he is living, marriage, and so forth, but he will not live the same life as a muggle-born such as yourself, Miss Evans."

"So he won't be enslaved," Lily concluded. Unshed tears prickled her eyes, but she dare not show them.

"That is correct, Miss Evans," Mr Knol nodded. Then looking to James with a more the obvious hinting, "Unless Mr Potter can't bare to have anything to do with a child conceived from trickery. Then the boy will simply disappear into the system much like other impures."

Lily gave her husband a meaningful look. He looked back with a raised eyebrow while shaking his head. She nodded down to the child in her arms and once again looked hard into James' eyes. He stared back with just as hard a look. Finally she looked away to look back at Mr Knol. "James Potter is acting on love potion," Lily stated boldly. "I've been slipping it to him every morning in his tea ever since the Potter's claimed ownership to me when I was twelve."

"That is very good of you, Miss Evans. It would have been a terrible loss to the wizarding world for Mr Potter to face such charges otherwise. Arrest her, and give Mr Potter the antidote. He can decided what will happen to the child as soon as the cure clears his thoughts."

"No!" James shouted. "I am not under love potion you royal wanker. Leave my family alone or I swear I'll kill every one of you." Swiftly two aurors grabbed James on each side. Finally, Mr Knol pulled a vile from his petticoat, and forced James to drink it's contents. Once it was certain James had swallowed the potion, the aurors carefully let him go.

He stared at Lily for a moment with a blank look. "Lily…" he breathed in disbelief. Now the tears where falling from Lily's eyes. James moved in close to her with confused eyes. Then before everyone's eyes, he wrapped one arm around her and used the other to hold her head as he gave her one heck of a kiss. "James!" Lily gasped when they finally parted.

"I love you, Lily. I'd rather you and I raise Harry together in the after life than him and me live without you," he said smoothly.

Before Lily could say anything, Mr Knol hissed, "Have it your way Mr Potter. By the power of the Ministry of Magic, James and Lily _Potter_, you are both here by sentenced to death for an illegal marriage, illegal producing of a child, fleeing the proper authorities, and your assistance in the Impure Rebellion against those of proper wizarding society." Then to his aurors he addressed, "Kill them."

When morning came, the bodies of Lily and James Potter were laying out on the living room floor. A Ministry official note hung on the door telling of their 'crimes'. The body of young Harry was not to be found. Instead he was stolen away into the corruption of the world towards a life as an Impure.

~1~1~1~1~1~1~1~1

_There you have, brand new Prologue. Aren't you guys glad I'm re-doing this? As to why I changed it from unpure to impure… as interesting as it was to make society look like fools for using improper grammar, I came to realize this is Wizarding England. Pretty much raised like those of Victorian age (aka proper grammar is of high importance). So I changed it. Less hassle with my auto spell check too. Anyway, hope you have enjoyed so far. R&R please!_

_~Nemarra_


	2. Chapter 1

_IMPORTANT NOTE: I'd like remind everyone this story is strongly rated T (a bit stronger than a 14A) due to language, violence, character death, and implied sexual content. If at any point you feel the content of this story is pushing M rating, please inform me immediately (please include your reason why) as I may see fit to change the rating. Thank you, from you ever dedicated author._

_~Nemarra_

Chapter 1

Mr Frank was having a lovely July morning. He had woken with a tune in step that followed him about his morning routine. The sun shone cheerily and his young son had said 'Dada' for the first time. After a hearty breakfast and a kiss from his beloved wife, he flooed his way to work. And what a fine job he had at none other than the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Management. It was considered the most respected job within the Ministry, save for perhaps the position of Minister. That was because no other department dealt with the filth of the magical world like they did. No other department so passionately sought to ensure the longevity and strength- thus, in essence the purity- of wizarding bloodlines. Mr Frank had only been within the department for little more than three years now, and already he was seeing to at least ten cases a week. Ten! He hummed to himself with pride. Though he never believed much in Divination, Mr Frank wondered if perhaps his good mood was brought on by his inner eye foreseeing his promotion today.

Entering the department, he greeted the receptionist as she handed him his daily case files. Mr Frank's smile falter some upon only being handed one folder. He shrugged it off thinking perhaps Mr Willows was purposefully freeing up his time for this afternoon. A free afternoon would see to the perfect opportunity to a luncheon chat. He marched to his personal office with pride planning out how to be modest about his promotion. Yes, and dinner would certainly be in order for he and wife at their favourite restaurant. All those plans came to a halt, however, upon opening his door to find his case client was already there waiting. Though never seeing the boy in person before, Mr Frank had heard enough that he could spot right away who the lightening scarred wizard before him was. He looked down into the folder to be sure. Indeed, it was him. Perhaps Mr Frank would be spending the afternoon getting acquainted with a bottle of fine Scotch.

"Mr Harry Potter," Mr Frank greeted politely as he closed the office door. Harry's intense gaze followed Mr Frank as he settled in his chair. He smirked when he noticed the man glanced at the shackles on his wrists. Feeling no less calm, Mr Frank turned his attention to the folder he had placed on his desk. "Harry James Potter. Only son of James Potter and Lily Evans-Potter. You will be sixteen on the 31st of this month. Twice confiscated, eight times arrested, and... my word, thirty-seven returns? You certainly seem to be a difficult one to place, aren't you?" He boldly glanced up with a nervous grin. Harry only stared at him with eyes of emerald fire. Clearing his throat, Mr Frank returned to his reading. "Your most recent return was from the Taylor family for... _Good heavens_, boy! Burning down an entire barn of live stock?"

"It was an accident," Harry spoke for the first time.

Mr Frank paused a moment upon hearing the boy speak so calmly. It was common knowledge the dark hair wizard was not one to submit and often held an attitude with authority figures. To here him so calm was like coming across trolls having a civil tea party. Remembering the task at hand, Mr Frank asked, "how so?"

"I meant to let the animals out before I burned down the barn, but Mr Taylor surprised me when he came home early," Harry explained.

"What compelled you to set the barn to flame to begin with?"

Harry glared and growled low, "They called my mother a Mudblood."

"Slander? That's your excuse?" Harry shrugged carelessly in response as he once again relaxed. "Dear boy, do you not understand that each time you are returned, less and less families are willing to take you? Your costing the Ministry time and money for the amount of work put into placing you!"

"Good."

"Good? _Good_? Mr Potter, as a barer of impure bloodline, the only means of you existence revolves around if a pure witch or wizard is willing to keep you under their care!"

"That would be fine if they didn't treat me like a slave."

"Serving the family you live with is a means of earning your keep within the household. That does not make you a slave!"

Harry's voice steadily raised, "I'm not allowed to leave the property, or practice magic outside of servant spells. I'm not allowed basic education. I've slept in cellars, shakes, and even outside living off of either bread or dinner scraps. And let's not forget the beatings..."

"A Master is permitted to punish you as they see fit..."

"I can't even have friends without someone thinking we're planning a conspiracy! You tell me how any of that _doesn't_ make me a slave," Harry hissed dangerously. His eyes dared the man to press him further.

Mr Frank inhaled deep in hopes of calming his aggravation before speaking, "Impure bloodlines have almost seen the end of wizarding kind."

"You Bigots ever think it's all your damned inbreeding causing disease and magic loss?"

Mr Frank chose to ignore him and continued, "As such, for the sake of all magic wielders, all impures must be kept under strict regulations. We couldn't possibly imprison you all- why, Azkaban is already being stretched to it's limit- so it is prudent impures live under a pure family to ensure these regulations are met. Mr Potter, without a pure family to look after you, there's no telling what sort of laws you'd break."

"You mean like having a job, my own house, and a wife and kids? Oh yeah, real terrible. So why isn't your ass in Azkaban?"

"Mr Potter that's quiet enough!" Mr Frank shouted angrily. The room grew silent as the two wizards stared each other down. The triumphant grin on Harry's features did not go unnoticed. "Your _job_ is serving your family. Your _house_ is your Master's house. You may have a wife, so long as you Master chooses one for you. As for children, however, that cannot be permitted. That would only see to further generations of contaminated bloodline."

"My bloodline is not contaminated," Harry growled.

"You may have gotten away with being a first generation pure seeing as your mother _was_ a witch; regardless of her being muggle-born. The fact her older sister is not a witch, however, proves the bloodline is unclean. It cannot hold magic properly which could damage wizarding society if you were allowed to sire with a pure." Mr Frank paused a moment to think as a new idea turned in his head. Then he spoke in an almost far off voice. "If that's really what it will take to keep you in a family, however, there are laws that would permit you to marry and sire children with another impure because of your father's linage. Her blood, of course, would have to prove clean enough that the resulting offspring were new blood pures." Mr Frank grew quiet again as he ran the figures through his head.

Harry on the other hand was not pleased, to say the least. There was no way this man was actually considering using him as a slave stud! Sure, if Mr Frank was being honest, that would mean Harry's kids would grow up outside of enslavement. New bloods were first or second generation pures that were invaluable considering the dwindling number of true pures. Yet, that also meant Harry and his partner would not be allowed to raise their own kids. Still, Harry knew better from experience. Pures were never honest. Impure breeding was illegal, but there was purposeful loopholes in the system to ensure there were always be salves for pigheaded blood purists to command. "In pursuit of creating new bloods" was so clearly obvious, it would have created a fine glass pane. The kind that idiots ran face first into. Harry may not have had an education, but he was not an idiot. This was exactly why he did not look forward to turning sixteen. It was the age of consent. Not the age of breeding, mind you. He had to be seventeen for that; unless _she_ was of age already.

"You know, I think I know just the family for you," Mr Frank said in a distant tone. The kind of tone that made Harry suddenly very nervous. Mr Frank waved his wand towards a filing cabinet. The drawer opened and a folder flew out into his waiting hands. "Mr Malfoy had mentioned the other day his young female was looking to court."

_Uh-oh_, Harry thought.

"The Malfoys are a well respected family. They had had twenty servants within their keep until an unfortunate fire killed all but one. In that case, Lucius would certainly be capable of looking after just the pair of you."

_He wishes._

"Hmm... Well look at this, Mr Potter, the young lady in question is a muggle-born. I sure that makes things appealing for you."

_Or not._

"An only child confiscated from her muggle parents when she was five. She rumoured to have a sharp mind and is fairly advanced in magic. Promising indeed. She's not of age for another couple of months, so you'll have time to court one another before getting involved intimately. We would have to wait for the third birthday of your first child before it can be determined if her bloodline will hold up enough to create New Bloods."

_Translation: we going to make you two have lots of babies together thinking they might have a chance for freedom, when really we're going to enslave the whole lot of them._

"I guess that settles it then," Mr Frank stated.

_What? Shit!_

"I'll have you set up for a physical examination. As long as all requirements are met, I will be contacting Lucius and seeing that the appropriate paper work is filled out. If all goes well, you'll be meeting Miss..." he stopped to read and then continued, "Hermione Granger, before your sixteenth birthday."

_Great_, Harry mused. He grudgingly allowed himself to be dragged out of Mr Frank's office to the holding cells until he would be set to see a healer at St Mungo's. He was not having a good day.

HP*HG

_There you go. This chapter is dedicated to LoonyPotter, by the way, for once again being my first reviewer._

_Anyway, just so you all know, _

_1) The Unpure is no longer available. This is it's replacement. Don't worry if you didn't get the chance to read it, a lot of elements will be carried over to this story (minus giant plot holes). _

_2) I will, over the next five days, be giving you a chapter a day to make up for making you wait for the re-write. After that, I will be updating 1-3 chapters on the first of every month. This is to help me stay ahead of the updates even with life bogging down on me. Hope you've enjoyed, and see you all again tomorrow! And please remember to review!_

_~Nemarra_


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A large thestrial drawn carriage clanged loudly with each bump as it travelled the gravel path. It was not a normal carriage, however. This carriage was built like a cage on wheels covered in a moth-eaten, dark green curtain. Inside, Harry tried his best to see out the holes in the fabric covering. This was it. After a two week wait, a rather embarrassing trip to St. Mungo's, and a couple hours on Air Prison, Harry would be getting the first glimpse of his new home. His palms were sweaty for reasons other than the July heat. For two weeks, Harry was left to ponder what he was to say or do concerning this Hermione Granger.

He knew for certain he had to make it clear to her so long as there was enslavement, he did not want to his bloodline continued. No descendants of his was ever going to bow to a pure! But then what of Hermione herself? Harry did admit that life as an impure was lonely. Being allowed to finally have a friend was an opportunity he would rather not waste. But would it be too awkward to be friends with their slave owner breathing down their necks about breeding? Would they have anything in common? Other than their enslavement, of course. Would they get along, or be constantly at each others' throats? What if he found he fancied her and she did not feel the same? Or more importantly, what if she did? What would their dating life be like. Would they be allowed to marry? At that point, would he have the strength to deny her children if she asked? Harry shook his head when he realized he was again thinking too far into advance.

Suddenly a prickle on the back of Harry's neck drew him from his musing. He rubbed at it in an irritated manner. No matter how many times he was moved from place to place, he would never get use to the Ministry mark on his neck keying into the barrier around his new master's property. Not as much as he hated the mark's other purpose. With a single order from certain people, the branded 'M' would flare to life and ignite Harry's body into a world of pain. It was an insurance policy; giving the pures means of controlling Harry's kind. Not that he submitted under the pain, but he still hated the idea of those bastards having a clear weak spot to attack him with.

The pin holding one side of the curtain on the back finally gave loose under the bumpy ride. The fabric flapped back and Harry was given clear view of the yard to his new home. He was surprised by the size. Clearly the Malfoys were a wealthy family. A flash of colour drew his attention to one of the gardens. A peacock? A bloody peacock? Oh great, of course they would be egotistic rich snobs. Harry already hated them. As the carriage came round the U-bend cobblestone path, he got his first glimpse of the manor itself. To sum it up in one word, it was big. Clean of ivy, and gorgeous glass pane windows. Yep, definitely dealing with rich snobs. No wonder they once needed twenty servants. Then, Harry's attention was swiftly shifted to something new.

There, in the garden of lilac and rose bushes lining the manor wall, was a girl. She was young; that much was clear. Her brown locks were up in a messy, loose bun in attempt to keep it from her face. Her pale features had the slightest coating of dirt and sweat. No doubt from pulling weeds if the pile next to her was any indication. She was intently watching the carriage as it finally stopped before the grand steps. Harry continued to study her. He was curious as to why she would choose to pull weeds by hand instead of using the wand sitting just within reach. He only turned away when he heard the large mansion doors opening in response to the driver's knock.

"Wotcher," greeted a female voice. Harry carefully slid over to peer through the holes of the cover again. He did not see much with the driver standing in the way. He did, however, make out spiky, bubblegum coloured hair.

The driver cleared his throat, "Is this the Malfoy residence?"

"No, 'fraid you've got the wrong place," the woman answered.

"P-pardon me?" the driver stuttered in an embarrassed tone. Harry smirked as the driver searched his person for the delivery address. Was he really so daft he missed the plate above the letter box reading 'Malfoy Mansion'?

"Tonks, don't be rude," this came from the girl in the garden. Harry's eyes were on her again as she approached while using simple spell work to clean herself. "Lord Malfoy has been expecting you. He should be in the lounge, directly up the grand stairs there."

"Yes, thank you," the man nodded before entering the house. The woman with the pink hair let him pass before coming outside and closing the door behind her.

"Haven't you grown tired of tormented idiot delivery boys yet?" the younger one asked.

"Of course not," the pink haired woman answered. They were now outside of Harry's view as they drew closer to the back side of the carriage. "It's the only entertaining part of waiting around for deliveries. Come on, let's have a look at who uncle dragged in here this time."

"Probably another boring, egotistic brute with more muscle than..." whatever the girl was going to say stopped when the loose curtain was thrown back and all three parties could clearly see one another.

On the right was the pink haired woman that had answered the door. She was pale with a lovely heart shaped face. Though she was young, she was likely older than Harry. Tonks, he had heard her being called. He did not bother to really study her more. The other on the left was who he was more interested in. She had removed her bun allowing her bushy curls to frame her face. Harry found that although he would not call her gorgeous, she did hold a certain subtlety that was alluring. She was thin, most likely under fed, and appeared warn from a hard day's labour. Further more, a thin prominent scar marked a path from her left jaw down across her neck and disappearing under her blouse collar on the right side. Crossing over that scar was a much older one cutting from near her lip and back towards her ear lobe. If her working in the garden did not prove it before, those clues alone erased any doubt this girl was a slave. The only slave the Malfoys currently owned besides himself. She was Hermione Granger, and at that moment her cinnamon colour eyes remained fierce and alert as she took in Harry's appearance. It made him feel a bit self conscious as he subconsciously tried to lay his messy, black hair flat.

In his attempt to self grooming, Harry had unknowingly moved his fringe bangs away from his forehead enough to display his scar. The famous lighting bolt shaped scar that he had since the night of his parents death. The eyebrows of both girls rose with surprise, but Hermione's just as quickly knitted together in a thoughtful expression.

"Harry Potter? You joined the new blood program?" Hermione asked in disbelief.

"Wow," Tonks muttered. "Who'd have thought? At least he's not another boring brute." She nudge Hermione teasingly. Then on a more serious note she added, "Remus and Sirius are going to be disappointed when I tell them." Before Harry could speak up for himself, another voice cut into the conversation.

"Nymphadora!" a man's voice growled. Hermione jumped slightly, but Tonks rolled her eyes hidden by the cover she was holding. "Here we go," she muttered. The curtain fell back into place when she released it, but Harry could still see the two women stand at attention. Tonks' demeanour was bold while Hermione took on a subdued bow of her head. "I believe I've warned you about having your hair that dreadful colour," the man's voice snapped. Harry glanced out the hole again to see if he could see the speaker. He did not but he did see a blonde boy about his age. No doubt the heir of the manor by the way he presented himself. Harry's mind already swirled with different plots to knock the git down a few pegs.

"I believe you have, Uncle," Tonks mockingly retaliated. "Just like I've told you about calling me Nymphadora."

"That better not be attitude I'm hearing from you, young lady."

"Of course not, Uncle," each word dripped with sarcasm.

"Nymphadora, change your hair colour this instant."

Tonks took on a thoughtful expression before shrugging. "Have it your way." To Harry's amazement and amusement, her hair changed from pink to neon green... without using a wand! She was smirking at her uncle with a triumphant look in her dark eyes.

"Miss Granger," the man snapped.

"Yes, Lord Malfoy?" Hermione answered politely.

"You are excused from cleaning the ballroom tonight. Miss _Tonks_," he spat, "you will be doing so instead. Without the use of cleaning spells. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, uncle," she nodded as a slight bow.

"Good," Lord Malfoy sneered. Then his tone changed to slightly more cheery as he added, "Now, lets have a look at our newest addition, shall we?"

A mutter from the driver and the fabric covering vanished. Harry blinked with the sudden brightness of day light. As soon as his vision adjusted, he took note of the three strangers before him. There was a woman that Harry had not even known was there. She was a tall and slim with blonde hair. In the regal way she held herself, Harry could tell she was the Lady of the house. Beside her was the boy Harry had spotted. He was equally pale as the Lord and Lady, with grey eyes like his father. Speaking of the Malfoy Lord, the way the blonde man looked at Harry like a prize sparked anger within him all the more. Forget pranks on the son. This man was about to be the star in the drama _How Harry Potter Drove Me Insain_.

"Come now, Mr Potter, it's rude to glare," the Malfoy Lord said in a 'I'm better than you' tone. "You should be grateful we took you in on such short notice." At that moment the back of the cage had melted away to create stairs. The man continued, "I am Lord Lucius Malfoy. This is my wife, Lady Narcissa, my son, Master Draco..." His face momentarily darkened as he growled, "and my niece, Nymphadora Tonks."

"Just call me Tonks," Tonks cut in. "Pisses uncle off like you wouldn't believe." Harry smirked. Even if she was a pure, he had a feeling he was going to get along with Tonks.

"Nymphadora! Would you like to add scrubbing the dinning hall floor to your punishments?" Lucius growled.

"Sure. Let's add the grand staircase while we're at it," her hair had turned a heated red to back her challenge. Lucius was turning an interesting shade of red as he tried to withhold his anger. Without taking his eyes off of Tonks, Lucius hissed, "Mr Young, if there is no other business to be attended to, I will ask you to leave."

"O' course, Governor," the driver's words spoke clearly of his desire to leave before hexes began to fly. He shoved past Tonks to get into the cage and grabbed Harry's shoulder. "Come on, boy. Come outta there," he ordered while dragging Harry along. He did not fight it... this time. He had too much to do to waste any more time out here in the smelly, metal carriage anyway. He stood before the two girls fairly confused when he noticed the dark glare from Hermione. "Good day, Sir," the driver tipped his hat to Lucius. He jumped up onto his podium, and flicked the reins. The small gathering waiting in tense silence for the carriage to make its way around the circle and onto the road toward the gate.

Lucius twisted the head of his cane. From within, he drew his wand and pointed it at Tonks. "_Obedience_," he shouted. Tonks let out a short scream as she fell to the ground in withering pain. Harry watched in shock not believing what he was seeing. She was marked! He looked up to Hermione wondering if this was really happening. She, on the other hand, was watching Tonks with obvious concern. Finally, Lucius let go of the curse. "How _dare_ you show such disrespect to your betters. If we weren't related, I'd have you sent straight to the Department of Magical Management to have your status confiscated. Mark my words, Nymphadora. Cross me again, and I'll be having a word with Mr Knol about having you stay in Azkaban for a month. Maybe then you'll be a little more grateful for our taking you in." Straightening his composure, Lucius reached into his pocket and then practically threw Harry's wand at him. Then he rounded on Hermione. "Miss Granger. Get Mr Potter settled in. Be sure to show him about the manor and inform him of the rules and his duties. You both are excused from the rest of today's chores since _Tonks_ will be doing so in your place. I still expect the ballroom to be cleaned without magic. You're all dismissed. Come Narcissa, Draco." With angry steps, Lucius strutted away through the front door. When Narcissa turned away, Harry swore she appeared slightly upset. Draco stayed a moment to sneer at them. Then he too followed.

The moment the door closed, Hermione was down at Tonks' side. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll be alright," Tonks' shaky voice countered her words. "He took me by surprise more than anything."

"You really shouldn't have angered him so badly," Hermione scolded. As Tonks made to get up, she stumbled some. Harry gently grabbed her arm to help steady her. She pulled away from him with a slight glare.

"Keep your hands to yourself, Potter," Hermione growled protectively stepping between with her wand drawn.

Now Harry was getting annoyed. "I haven't done anything!" he defended.

"And that's the way it's going to stay," Hermione countered getting in his face. Her wand was held dangerously pointing at his chest. "I should have known after all I had heard about you, you would let your fame get to your head. But you listen to me. I don't care if you are Harry Potter. We will not be doing so much as kissing let alone fornicating. I will _not_ be used as some slave breeding bitch for the Ministry."

Harry was momentarily struck dumb. It looked like convincing her about the no kids thing was not going to be necessary. But just to be sure... "So let me get this straight. You didn't ask your master for a partner of any kind?" he asked.

"Of course not!" Hermione huffed. "It had been Lord Malfoy's idea. He purposefully twisted my words into making it sound like I wanted to have a family. Give the memory to the right people, tell them I'm an only child with promising magical ability, and next thing I know, they start bring hopeful wizards in here for the New Blood Production Program."

"Which in itself is ridiculous," Tonks cut in having caught her second wind. "Hermione is a muggle-born. Being an only child is an excuse to get her into the program. They can't disprove her bloodline isn't 'strong enough'," Tonks made air quotes with her fingers as she rolled her eyes, "to produce magical children. But everyone knows they're really trying to make more slaves. They might keep on one or two to help detour the inbreeding problem pures are facing, but the rest are straight cases to the Department of Magical Management."

"That is why I absolutely refuse to have children. Especially with a man I don't even know!" Hermione finished. "And wizards like you that sign themselves up are selfish, idiot, perverts for worrying more about the chance to have sex than what will happen to the resulting children."

"But I didn't sign myself up," Harry countered. This clearly took both women by surprise.

"Huh?"

"What?" They said together.

"I didn't sign myself up," Harry repeated. "I got in an argument with my new case worker. Somehow he seemed to think if I had a family to protect, I might actually start to behave for a master. I don't want to have kids so long as slavery exists. Even if I met the love of my life; it's not going to happen."

"Really?" Hermione asked. She appeared unsure if she should believe him or not.

"Yeah. I've been going mad thinking you wanted someone to settle down with and would hex me when I told you I don't." This gained a light smile from Hermione. Harry found it endearing that he smiled as well.

"Thank the Heavens!" Tonks loudly sighed in relief. "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. Thing is, the ones that came in here before you _did_ want to be in the program. A lot of them didn't seem to understand the meaning of the word 'no'. Bunch of horny brutes, really. One would have succeeded in forcing himself on Hermione, if my fiancee hadn't turned up for a visit. I've heard people talk about you, Harry. Everyone says your resourceful. Not to mention stubborn as can be when you get an idea in your head. For a moment, I was worried if maybe I needed to plan an unfortunate accident just to keep Hermione safe."

Harry's blood boiled in anger. "Believe me, I'm not like them. And if any of those rapist bastards are still around here, I'm going to make them wish they were never born," he growled threateningly. He missed the smiles his deceleration brought to both women.

"That won't be necessary," Hermione said kindly. "I'm sorry for assuming you were one of them. Your the first to be brought in here that had not join the program voluntarily."

"It's fine," Harry shrugged. "I don't blame you if that's the kind of guys you've met before me."

"Now that that is cleared up," Tonks said. Her red locks suddenly turned back to pink. "I should owl Remus and get to work on those chores."

"Would you like some help?" Hermione offered.

"Nah, I'll be alright," Tonks shook her head. "You should go read or something. You've been restless ever since uncle announced they were bringing in a new guy."

"That does sound appealing," Hermione sighed tiredly.

"I could help if you want," Harry offered.

"You can help by not pulling any pranks until tomorrow," Tonks responded. "I don't want to have to clean anymore than I have to."

"I've told you not to anger your uncle," Hermione muttered.

"Oh hush you. The royal tart deserves it."

"You always say that."

"Because he always does. Never mind, I'll see you two later," with that Tonks waved goodbye and walked away. When she disappeared into the mansion, Harry and Hermione glanced at one another with uncertainty.

"Perhaps we should start again," she offered. She chewed her bottom lip nervously.

"Okay," Harry nodded in full agreement. He offered his hand and said, "Harry Potter."

"Pleased to meet you," Hermione smiled as she shook hands with him. "I'm Hermione Granger."

HP*HG

_Another short one, and admittedly, this was suppose to be longer, but I loved how nicely this made for the ending of their first meeting. Anyway, updating this before midnight so I can got to bed early... luck you! :P_

_As always, please review!_

_~Nemarra_


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Harry was lead through the manor being shown every part of the house he would be serving. He was not surprised to find everything within the house was done with rich decor. Grand marble stair cases. Rooms upon rooms of hardwood flooring. Dark wood, hand-carved furniture. Art that no doubt cost a few thousand galleons. The sear number of rooms themselves were displays of wealth.

Going up the stairs one found themselves in a lounge with an enormous fireplace. Fifteen large grand bedrooms- including the master- found on the second floor. Each bedroom had it's own on-suit toilets. There were five full bathrooms meant for hygienic needs. The attic was filled with various discarded items with a single path to the bell tower turned into an owl paradise. On the bottom floor, there was a lovely sun room, found next to the indoor pool and sauna. Which was across from the music room. All down the hall to the grand ballroom that took up a fourth of the bottom floor. There was three libraries between both floor. As well as a personal study for Lucius. Two dinning rooms; one for formal affairs while the other was meant for more social means. A kitchen complete with walk-in ice box- which was a whole other room in itself- and two pantries. They even had a whole armoury.

Outside was a patio for ball guests that lead to at least a dozen different gardens. The gardens themselves were large mazes of colour and scents. There was four green houses and a dog kennel found beside a five acre orchard. Behind the orchard, past some hedges, was a well kept graveyard. Harry noticed a row of tied sticks making crosses along the shadows of the tree line on the far side. He did not need to ask to know those graves belonged to slaves past.

Through each place, Hermione gladly spoke endlessly about the history to each room. It was interesting how intelligent she was. He became curious in wanting to know her more. As they marched back through the gardens towards the manor, he could not help but ask, "How long have you been on your own?" Upon seeing the suspicious look Hermione gave him, Harry added, "It's a pretty big place. Was it always just you taking care of things?" He knew the answer, but he preferred to pretend he did not in hopes of getting her to talk again.

Hermione sighed, "No, it wasn't always me. There used to be others. We had all lived together in a one room cabin behind the green houses. Lord Malfoy would lock us in there after curfew because someone had tried attacking the family at night. There was an unfortunate accident during a lightening storm, and... well, Tonks and I were the only survivors."

"I'm sorry," Harry spoke solemnly.

"It's alright, it happened nearly eleven years ago," Hermione shrugged. "I had only just been taken from my parents, so most of them were still strangers to me. It's easier to forget people you never really knew to begin with."

"Yeah, I guess. How did you two get out?" Harry asked changing topics. He and Hermione stopped at the far corner of the manor. When Hermione waved her wand over the ground, the grass opened up into a stair well leading into the basement.

"I had called Lady Malfoy... something rude," Hermione continued as she descended the stairs. "She had me locked in the dog kennels for the night as punishment. Tonks had chose to sit with me outside the cage. I say it was purely luck, but Tonks claims our good fortune was a reward for giving the Malfoys trouble. Perhaps that's why she's always angering her uncle despite the punishments delivered."

Harry snickered, "She's a first gen, right? That's why she's marked like us."

Hermione nodded, "they treat her more like us than one of their own. But other than that, it's not really my place to tell you things about Tonks."

Harry shrugged, "Whatever. So, misbehaviour is lucky, huh? Maybe I should give it a go, and see how my luck turns out." His words gained a slight smile from Hermione as she paused at the door.

"We both know _you_ don't need an excuse to cause mischief. But if it does work, be sure to let me know. It's been some time since I've done something against the Malfoys." With those words, she pushed the dingy, little door open. "This is where we stay now, by the way."

Harry stepped into the room. It was a cellar that had been separated in half by old sheets hanging from the ceiling. Over head was a dozen or so lines of drying laundry. In place of kegs in the walls, the shelves held ratty bedding and pillows for the hand full of second hand mattresses laying on the floor. There was also a number of cleaning potions- and cauldrons and ingredients for those potions- lined along the makeshift shelves. There was a single wardrobe in the far right corner. On the far left was a make shift lavatory. It was only just big enough for one person to move about with the shower, sink, and toilet. Another ragged sheet acted as the only means of privacy. Even with a couple small windows, most of the lighting was a combination of torches on the walls and the wood burner next to the door. Despite the conditions, especially compared to the rest of the mansion, Harry had to admit this had to be the nicest servants quarters he had ever been in.

"Sheets and pillows are in the closet there. Pick whichever unmade mattress you'd like. When we're not doing chores, we're supposed to be down here or outside," Hermione explained. She walked over to the only wardrobe and began to search through the clothes within.

"Let me guess, the family doesn't want us sullying their noble house with our presence but they still expect us to keep the place clean?" Harry grumbled as he searched through the sheets for a half-decent set.

"Well, that's not the way he put it, but yes, that's about it."

"Royal bastards." Hermione rolled her eyes. Seeing this, Harry enquired, "so what did you call Lady Ugly that you were locked in a dog kennel?"

Hermione blushed as she pulled out one last set of uniform robes. She mumbled something too low for Harry to catch. "Sorry, what did you say?" Harry asked.

"I said I called her a bitch that shags more dogs than men," she finally said loud enough for him to here. Harry's jaw dropped at first. Then, within the blink of an eye, he was laughing.

"You said that as a _five-year-old_?" he laughed with disbelief.

"I over heard it back in my home village!" Hermione defended. "I had no idea what I was saying; just that it was rude." Harry continued to snicker. Hermione huffed still blushing. She stormed over to him with her arms full of different dress pants and tops. A bow tie dangled from her elbow. "Hold still," she growled. He tried to remain still but the thought of a five year old Hermione telling off Narcissa Malfoy kept appearing in his mind. After holding up a couple sets and tossing them aside, Hermione muttered, "You really are skinny." Finally she handed him a pair. "Try these on. I can have them adjusted if they are slightly too large."

Harry took the set and laid it down with the bedding. When he made to remove his overly large shirt, however, Hermione shouted at him, "Harry! I meant in the bathroom." He glanced over at her noticing both a blush and her hand dangerously poised for her wand. Oops.

"Look, I know that every time you've seen a guy in undress he's usually trying to rape you. So yeah, I get you are scared."

"I'm not scared," Hermione hissed.

"Nervous, then. The point is, even though I don't plan on walking around naked, I'm still going to be here long enough that you might see me in only my boxers or a towel. So could you just look away?"

"And leave myself blind to an attack? No way. Either keep yourself covered, or I swear I'll hex you into an oblivion." The two of them stared eye to eye unblinking.

"You know what," Harry reached into his pocket to withdraw his wand. Hermione instantly had hers fixed on him. Without so much as a flinch to the threat, Harry tossed his wand to Hermione's feet. Then tensely ready for an attack, he went back to changing. He watched her blurry image from the corner of his eye. Hermione slowly lowered herself with her wand still at the ready. Once she had a hold on Harry's wand, she shot back up to full height. When Harry was finished, he turned to her with a few steps.

"See? Now can I have my wand back?" She eyed him carefully. He noticed her eyes for a moment glanced behind him before falling back on his face. Against his curiosity, Harry remained staring at her as though he had not noticed any change. Finally she took a couple of steps towards him, and held his wand out to him. He smoothly took it without rush, but not slow enough to indicate tension. "Thank you," he said. Hermione nodded some and then lowered her wand. She walked over to the made mattress next to the wall across from Harry's. He noticed she had purposefully turned her back on him. He ignored the gesture, and turned his attention once again on his bed. A quick spell later, and it was perfectly made. He took advantage of his looking at the bed to glance at the curtain separating room and cellar from his peripheral vision. He did not see anything odd, but decided not to put his wand away just yet.

Both parties sat on their respective beds trying to relax but still keep an eye on the other. Hermione's brown eyes glanced to Harry's side where his wand sat in reach. "Why haven't you put your wand away?" she asked.

"Because you haven't put yours away," he answered coolly.

"As I've said once before, I don't intend to be defenceless around you until I know you were not lying about why you're in the program."

"You just turned your back to me. If I had wanted to, I could have hit you with a jinx then."

"But I still have my wand with me, and- just so you know- Tonks' fiancee is a teacher for Defence Against the Dark Arts. Which he teaches me every time he comes to visit. I probably know far more spells than you could ever hope to know."

"You're bluffing."

Hermione once again had her wand ready, "Would you like a demonstration?"

Harry snarled, "Why? I haven't done anything and it's going to stay that way. Unless you're telling me you've used your spells to take advantage of the wizards brought in here."

Hermione's jaw dropped in disbelief. "You're honestly claiming _I_ would do that?"

"Yes, I am. How many of those wizards did you say tried forcing themselves on you when- maybe- the truth is, they were probably trying to keep _you_ off _them_!"

"Excuse me? Don't you dare insinuate I would sink so low!"

Harry cut in even though Hermione clearly was going to say more, "Tonks is a New Blood. She can come and go as she pleases leaving you behind. Not to mention she's engaged. Eleven years can be a long, lonely time. Who knows what someone smart like you would think up in the mean time."

"And using wizards like toys is my plan, is it? Honestly, Harry, if I didn't want to be alone that badly, I would have given in with the first wizard! But I'll have you know I'm still innocent; despite some greasy pigs' attempts. And it's going to remain that way until I die! So keep your twisted ideas to yourself, because- I swear- if you are like the rest of those cockroaches, you'll be sorry!"

The air seemed to radiate in electricity from their rage. Both glaring heatedly at one another. It was silent for a whole minute, but the time snailed by. "You know what," Harry snapped. "Forget it." He took off his glasses and laid out on his bed with his back to her. He hoped to ignore her with a long nap, but knew he probably would not. He listened to the silence feeling her gaze bore into him. Then he heard her sigh in defeat.

"Harry?" she called softly. He glanced blindly over his shoulder without a verbal response. "I'm sorry. It's true that eleven years is long and very lonely. That does _not_ mean I'm desperate, though. With Tonks away so much, all I really had were books. At first they were to pass the time until she returned, but now I love to read. The point is, although my hobby has granted me extensive amounts of knowledge, it really does nothing for my social skills."

Harry turned over onto his back to continue looking at her without the kink in his neck. "I've met worse," he admitted honestly. "Besides, I can't really be cross with you... all you're doing is defending yourself."

"True. But I somewhat feel foolish having my guard up with _you_. You can't help being here anymore than I can."

"I can help it... sort of. All I need is to give the royal wankers a reason to send me back into the system. Then I'd never have to look at this miserable place again."

"It's not going to work," Hermione stated bluntly. "You're apart of the New Blood Production Program now. Your only way of getting out of here alive is if you're sterile- which, I believe, was checked for during the pre-sign-up physical exam- or you committed a crime so terrible you're to be executed."

"I'll break out then. I never wanted to be a slave, anyway," Harry yawned as he found his body was starting to relax into the soft bedding.

"How do you plan on doing that?" Hermione's tone was a mix of curiosity and utter disbelief he was even thinking of such a thing.

"I don't know yet, but I'll get us out of here before your birthday so they can't breed us."

"_Us_? You'd take me with you?"

"Sure," Harry was starting to feel the exhaustion from restless nights sleep creeping in on him. As his mind began to doze, he heard Hermione whisper, "Thank you."

"What are friends for," Harry yawned. He completely missed the look of shock crossing Hermione's face. "I think I'm going to have a quick kip," he muttered half-coherent. He snuggled up into his bedding, and was asleep in moments. Hermione, in turn, settled on her bed after a few minutes thought. From her pillow case she drew a large book. She settled against the wall, and tried to read the small font. Instead, her mind lead her eyes back up to Harry's sleeping form. Unlike with wizards before Harry, it was not from paranoia leading her to check if he was really sleeping. No, her eyes were soft, and a smile graced itself upon her face. In her mind repeated the same words wondering if they were real...

"_What are friends for?" _She smiled again as she returned her attention once more to reading. Hermione Granger- muggle-born prisoner in the Malfoy house and unofficial little sister to Nymphadora Tonks- for the first time in her life had someone her own age that called her 'friend'.

HP*HG

_I really don't like fillers, but they are needed (doesn't make me any less disappointed in this chapter, though). So, to make up for it, you guys are getting a double update tonight. Talk about lucky, eh? Just please remember to leave a review! I want to know if I'm doing a good or bad job here. Take care._

_~Nemarra_


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The following day after Harry had arrived, he had gained a new respect for Hermione. How she managed to single-handed look after the entire manor every day for nearly eleven years was remarkable. They only thing she was not expected to do was cook; the family had a paid professional chef for that. Harry had yet to meet the guy, but he had been told the chef was a real character by the name of Dobby. Everything else- scrubbing, dusting, washing, waxing- lay wholly on Hermione; now Harry as well. By the pace things were going, he almost wondered if his presence was hindering rather than helping. Regardless, the two finished a relatively painless day of work before one in the morning. Not to mention, Hermione appeared to be really trying to get along with Harry. He was not sure what brought it on, but he preferred that then her cold suspicion from the first day. He passed it off as her perhaps having a bad day when they met. Best of all, though, was Harry was lucky enough not to have a single run in with the Malfoys. The day after that, however, is when his luck abruptly ended.

It started out when he and Hermione were cleaning the last bedroom. More specifically, they were cleaning Draco's room. Hermione excused herself to fetch more colour restoring agent when she discovered the amount she had on hand was not enough for all the magical portraits in the room. All of which held Draco Malfoy in some manner or another. "I don't know why you need to use colour restoring agent... he's an albino. There's no colour to him to begin with," Harry said jokingly. He smirked at the moving pictures that were all glaring at him.

Hermione may have succeed in not laughing, but there was still a noticeable twinkle in her eyes. "Harry, we should be considerate of the things that actually have colour to them. Like the trees and animals. They already have to suffer an eternity with Master Draco." Though she was using a well practised 'I know better than you' tone, Harry still had to keep himself from laughing at her mocking Draco. Returning to a pleasant tone, she added, "I'll be back soon. Just animate some wash rags to polish the furniture while you go about anti-dust charms. When I get back, we'll scrub the floor and then get some lunch." Harry nodded. He did not dare mention he did not know how to animate objects to move let alone clean. He did know how to do a good anti-dust charm, though, so set about that when the large door closed behind Hermione.

Harry walked about the bedroom that reminded him more of a small house with a king sized bed as the centre piece. He also decided he needed to change his favourite colour since the Malfoys' obsession with green rather turned him from it. That thought slipped away when he had moved to do charms on the fireplace. There, perched above the mantel was a large, suggestive picture of the blonde boy with only silver silk covering his manhood. Harry grimaced at the portrait. How he wished he could burn the damned thing. Not that it would help now that the image had been burned into his mind. He swore he better not have nightmares from this. It's grey eyes glared at him. "What are you staring at Scar Head?" he scowled at him.

"Just the ugliest thing since a Troll's ass," Harry growled back.

"You're one to talk, Potter," though it was Draco's voice, it did not come from the portrait. Unfortunately, it did not come from any of the other paintings either. Harry turned around to find the real Draco Malfoy entering the room. He held his person in such a regal way that Harry just wanted to beat the little snot black, blue, and bloody. He silently roped in his temper by imagining what was the best form of humiliation he could bring on the bugger.

"Your so ugly, Granger's going to need a blind fold to get through shagging you," Draco sneered.

"Is that what you suggested to the last girl you tried to seduce?" Harry countered. "Why don't you catch a hint that even bints think you're too ugly to shag?"

"Ha! As if I would be so lowly as to bed a Mudblood."

"Muggle-borns are not bints!"

"Oh yeah? My father says the reason there's so many impures is because Mudbloods don't know how to keep their legs closed."

"Your father is the biggest shit tart in the world with an IQ equal to a rock!"

"Oh yeah? Well you should ask your father since he knows all about shagging mudbloods. Oh wait... your father's dead!"

"He may be dead, but my father is a hero. He saved hundreds of lives and proved blood doesn't make the wizard. Something you're toilet wipe family still hasn't figured out! My father was a great man, and loved my mother because she was an amazing witch."

"Loved? You wish! Face it, Potter, he was either desperate or completely barmy for you to ever exist. That's if James Potter is really your father. Never know with Mudblood witches."

"Just because your mum is used as much as a doorknob, doesn't mean everyone's mothers are whores."

"You think you're funny, do you?"

"Not as funny as your existence. Really, is your father's dick so small all he was able to screw was a ferret? I think that counts as animal cruelty."

Draco's face was growing red with rage. He moved in close to Harry in attempt to intimidate. Harry simply glared back unaffected. "Your mum is like a brick. Flat on all sides, and thick!" Draco hissed.

"One day your mum was having a shit and you came out," Harry growled back dangerously. His grip was tight on his wand.

"Your so ugly, people pay millions NOT to see you!"

"You know how kids say idiots were beat with stupid sticks as children? They forgot to mention those sticks were named Malfoy!"

"Your so filthy, you stink worse than Dragon dung."

"Tell me, are you wearing your mother's or your father's eyeliner? They should have named you Drag-queen Minger."

Draco had finally had enough. "You're going to pay for this, Potter!" He drew his wand and had it pointed at Harry just seconds behind Harry.

"_Expelliarmus!_"

"_Obedience!"_ For a split second, pain shot through Harry from his mark. It subsided when his disarming charm sent Draco's wand across the room. Now he stood as the only wand barer. He smirked as wicked victorious manner. "Y-you can't hex me, Potter!" Draco voice cracked. "They'll have you kissed my a dementor if you do!"

"I still have plenty of time to maim and bury you alive before the Ministry Aurors come pick me up," Harry's voice seemed to knock the room temperature down a few degrees. The truth was, Harry did not know any other duelling spells. His arsenal consisted of pranks and cleaning. It was by pure accident of previous masters using the spell so much that he managed to even learn the disarming charm to begin with. If Draco called him on his bluff, Harry would be royally fucked.

At that moment, the half opened door was pushed open wider. "What's going on in here?" Tonks commented as she walked in. Two large books were tucked under one of her arms. Likely from the library found just down the hall. Draco smirked. "Potter attacked and threatened me," he answered almost child like.

"I wasn't talking to you, you little arsehole," Tonks snapped. The grin vanished from one boy's face to appear on the other's. "Never mind. Harry, get your things, and follow me," Tonks ordered. "I need a hand with something." Harry nodded and quickly shoved all the stray cleaning supplies back into Hermione's seemingly endless, yet small and light weight, bag. "My father will here of this!" Draco proclaimed as Harry speed past him for the door.

"Don't care," Tonks tossed over her shoulder. She pushed Harry along trying to keep him moving in case he decided he wanted to continue his earlier argument. The large oak door slammed behind them.

Tonks lead the way to the end of the hall. The stones opened up into the servants' stairs as Hermione exited from within. "Hmm? Tonks, what's wrong?" she said with concern upon seeing them.

"Let's just say we don't want to be up here right now," Tonks answered still pushing Harry along. Hermione followed right behind and the wall closed off giving them privacy.

"What do you mean we don't want to be up here right now? Harry what did you do?" Hermione questioned.

"Got cheeky with my cousin," Tonks answered clearly amused. "Definitely gave the little wanker a well deserved shot at his ego."

"Harry! You didn't!" Hermione scolded.

"What?" Harry defended. "I wasn't going to let him get away with insulting my parents."

"And you," Tonks swiftly added. When Harry looked at her he noticed a spark of mischief in her dark eyes. Whatever response Hermione had been planning was suddenly stopped with her mouth snapping shut. She looked between Tonks and Harry trying to sum up if it were true. "He insulted muggle-born," Harry mutter in explained. The hall resounded with a dull thud as Tonks smack Harry across the back of his head. "What was that for?" he hissed as he rubbed the sore spot on his head.

"Do you have any sense of being charming in that noggin?" Tonks shot back. "Couldn't have picked up from my lead, could you? Prat."

Harry stopped at the bottom step suddenly feeling very defensive, "Why should I? Not unless you're trying to hook us up?" Hermione also stopped and look chest fall towards Tonks.

"Romantically, no," Tonks answered bluntly when she stopped a few steps higher than them. "But it couldn't hurt to get close to one another."

"How's that any different?" Harry snapped.

"Tonks, what have you heard?" Hermione asked. Her voice laced in a mix of understanding and worry. Tonks suddenly looked uncomfortable. Her pink hair dulled slightly to match a sorrowful look. "Uncle was in Knockturn Alley today," she finally said in a rush. Harry was a bit confused, but by Hermione's gasp, he had a feeling this was not going to be good.

"H-he didn't buy..." Hermione trailed off nervously.

Tonks shrugged, "they wouldn't tell me much because as soon as Sirius said he tailed my uncle into Knockturn, I was pretty verbal about my plans to cock up the old bastard. But we can safely assume uncle won't be playing by Ministry rules. That's why I went to find you two. The guys are down in the dorm. They say it's so they could answer questions, but, between us, I think they are stalling as a reason to see Harry."

"Who?" Harry asked. Both girls looked at him clearly surprised. "Why do they want to see me?" he added.

"Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Didn't anyone tell you about them growing up?" Hermione enquired.

"No," Harry shook his head a little awkward. He wondered if these men were somehow very important people. Would he end up offending them by not knowing who they were?

Tonks' hair was bright again. "Oh, this'll be good," she smirked. "Come on." This time she was leading at a brisk pace down the hall, past the kitchen door, and down the spiral stairs leading to the cellar. Harry followed more than a bit confused. He noticed Hermione was smiling a bit mischievously. It was a front, he realized. After the past couple days, he had seen it enough in Hermione to know she was trying to hide something. It was the dull look of concern in her eyes that gave her away and left an uneasy knot in Harry's stomach.

Tonks stumbled a bit down the last step but caught herself quickly. She slipped over to where two men stood waiting by the curtain. "Harry, I'd like you to meet my fiancee, Remus Lupin," Tonks slipped her hand into Remus' and then waved to the second man saying, "and my cousin, Sirius Black." Harry glanced between the two men. Both appeared very happy to see him. Sirius was a man with an air of casual elegance to him. He was tall and well built with long, luscious black hair. His grey eyes yielding merriment and awe. Harry was surprised when he looked at Remus. He had been expecting Tonks' fiancee to be... younger. Though his scarred face was young like Sirius', he was already gaining lines. His light brown hair was thick with grey flecks. His rough beard and moustache seemed to just add to the shaggy look that his patchy clothes portrayed.

"Look at you... you look so much like your father," Sirius spoke up first. "Except for your eyes. You have your mother's eyes."

The comment made Harry smile. A curious thought was quickly given words, "did you know them?"

"Know them? Remus and I went to school with your father," Sirius barked a laugh.

"You might have heard of us more by the names Moony and Padfoot," Remus added.

Harry was thoroughly gob-smacked, "As in the _Marauders_? People talk about you all the time."

Remus smiled, "Your father was one of us too. Prongs, was his nickname."

And here Harry thought he could not be anymore surprised. "My dad was Prongs of the Marauders... why didn't anyone tell me before?"

"They probably didn't know, or didn't want to encourage you to act like him," Remus answered.

"Which, if even half the things we heard are true, didn't help any," Sirius smiled proudly. "I'm sure Prongs is laughing it up somewhere in heaven."

"Anyway, I'm sorry to say cub this is not a social visit," Remus said. "As glad as I am to see you after so long, with what Sirius found today, I really wish you had not been brought to this place."

"What did you find?" Hermione spoke up.

"Perhaps we should all have a seat first," Remus offered. Everyone agreed, and crossed through the sheet from cellar to dorm. Once everyone was settle, Sirius started his tale, "Well, I was out on a sneaking around in Diagon Ally working on a pet project. When I was about to leave, I noticed Lucius slip away into Knockturn Ally."

"Sorry...What so special about Knockturn Ally?" Harry cut in.

"It's a dodgy place, that's what," Tonks answered. "It's known for selling all sorts of dark magical items. A lot of times there's a lot of illegal stuff down there. The DMLE is constantly having to go in."

"I already sent in an anonymous tip about _Berk's Black Cauldron,_" Sirius continued. "That's where Lucius went. Apparently Mr Berk has been brewing some shady stuff... some of which old Lucius now has his hands on."

"Like what?" Tonks pressed.

"I didn't get a good look at the whole lot, but the labels I did catch were _Epithymia _and _Amatoris,_" Hermione whimpered with Sirius' announcement.

"What are they?" Harry asked. He hated sounding so ignorant, but he needed to know if there was reason to panic.

"Lust potions, more or less," Hermione explained. "_Epithymia_ causes the drinker to lose control of their logical thoughts, and take on a barbaric primal state of function. Everything becomes about desire until they have either fulfilled the need or outlasted the potion."

"How long does that take?" Harry enquired.

"Two days on average," Hermione spoke uncomfortably. She quickly covered her discomfort with once again taking on her explanation, "The only problem is, as I've said, the drinker has no control. They will stop at nothing to fulfil there need. As for _Amatoris,_ it's a liquid form of complicated curse by the same name. Though the one effected doesn't loose control of themselves, they start to here a voice and see vivid images in their mind. It'll keep egging them on to do all sorts of sexual acts... including raping the target. It can last a month and it's said to drive people mad for denying it. The two differences between the curse and the potion's effects is the curse is stronger and the target is the caster. Where as the potion will target who's essence- most commonly a hair- is mixed within it."

Harry was growing steadily angrier with the explanation. He had been expecting hormone and love potions when the time came they could legally be bred. Sure, having a boner while seeing the girl before him as the love of his life would make things uncomfortable, they did not take away his ability to say 'no' so long as his will was strong enough. This, however, was a whole other Quidditch match. This was lack of choice. So much so he could end up horribly hurting Hermione. Though he would not admit it out loud, Harry felt a twinge of fear for his and Hermione's safety.

"It gets worse," Tonks brought him back to attention. "I was snooping through Uncle's study earlier, and found copies of an old series from before the first rebellion. There's journals on how to make obedient slaves. Volume five involves slave breeding; including some now illegal spells."

"I'm afraid I have one worse than that," Sirius admitted solemnly. "Mr Berk sold Lucius a contract to get sources into the black market trades."

"Well that's just bloody great," Harry snapped bitterly. The black market was an impures' worst nightmare. Get involved, and they would be doomed to a life that made the Ministry's laws look like the same annoying rules parents gave their kids to protect them. It was also a known fact, that children were in high demand. What the buyer of those children wanted was anyone's guess, but it was never good. Black market orphans were often discovered among paedophiles, modern magic laboratories, and cannibal societies; to name a few. The majority of the time, as rumour had it, good people would only find these children when it was already too late to help them. Clearly, between the New Blood Program and the Black Market both willing to pay thousands in galleons, taking the illegal approach to creating impure children was an option Lucius was not going to pass up over possible Ministry penalties.

"Anything else we should know about?" Harry snapped.

"Easy pup," Sirius countered. "We're just as upset as you are. But we believe if Lucius thinks you two are progressing on your own, he might leave well enough alone."

"Progressing on our own? You want Harry and I to pretend to be dating?" Hermione concluded with undertones of being appalled.

"Perhaps a bit more passionate than simply dating, but yes," Remus nodded. "It won't fool Lucius for long, but it should delay things long enough to set a proper plan into motion."

"And what if he doesn't care and just drugs us with potions anyway?" Harry tried to keep the edge out of his voice.

"The three of us are already setting about counter measures, just in case," Remus reassured. "We will be acquiring the counter to as many illegal spells and potions that could be used to force you two together."

"Or, for some, just keeping you two apart until it wears off," Tonks added.

Remus nodded, "I will also be looking into ways to falsify a positive pregnancy test for when we have a clearer idea how we are going to go about breaking you two out of here completely. The thought is, if he believes the deed is done, there will no longer be a need for intervention."

Sirius quickly took up his turn, "I also convinced Moony and Tonks here to take swipe some of the non-targeting potions and use them on themselves. That way they are used up instead of laying about." Both Remus and Tonks blushed with embarrassment.

Harry could not resist a jab, "just don't forget to lock the doors. I don't want to walk in on anything." Sirius let loose a fit of laughter, and even Hermione was laughing some under her breath. Tonks swiftly drew her wand, and fired a hex at Harry. His quick reflexes helped him dodge, letting the orange hex wizz by him. "Prat... we're doing this to help you out, remember?" she hissed.

Hermione swiftly made herself peace keeper, "Thank you... all of you." Then she glanced eye to eye with Harry. She chewed her lip in nervous thought. "I guess... we're going to pretend to be together then," she spoke delicately. Harry nodded equally nervous.

"Just remember not to jump into the act right away," Remus advised. "Both of you are known for being reluctant to follow orders. Not even the excuse of 'love at first site' would change that. Just act as though you are denying at first, and then 'hiding' the formed relationship later."

"I really hope this works," Hermione mumbled.

"So do we," Tonks agreed.

"Don't worry... we'll have you kids out of here soon enough," Sirius encouraged.

"For now though, you two need to get back to your chores before the Malfoys notice you're gone," Remus finished.

"Yeah, I'm sure Draco misses me," Harry smirked. This gained a disapproving look from Hermione, but giggles from Tonks.

"If I know my cousin, which unfortunately I do, he's probably gone to rat you out to uncle by now," Tonks snickered. "Oh! And before I forget, Hermione, I need a word with you." She quickly gave Remus a kiss with a, "I'll be right back". Then, she lead Hermione out of the back door to the outside. The three men were left in a thoughtful silence.

"So... you and my dad make up three of the famous Marauders?" Harry started. "Isn't there a fourth member?"

Both faces suddenly seemed to be cast in a dark shadow of hatred. "Wormtail is no longer one of us," Sirius growled. "Not since he betrayed your parents- and a few dozen others- to the Ministry."

Now Harry was angry as well, "Why?"

"Who knows," Sirius snapped.

"Where is he now?"

"Dead. Officially, the Ministry found his body in a ditch just outside of London," Remus answered. Both he and Sirius were suddenly smirking in a sinister manner. "The truth is, however, his body was sent in pieces by owl to the Minister every day until they had the whole thing."

"Bloody bastard deserved what he got," Sirius muttered. Once again the room was silent for a moment. Trying to lighten the mood some, Sirius said, "That aside, how would you like to follow in your father's foot steps by becoming an official Marauder?"

Harry smiled, "I'd love that."

"Good, well first things first, we need to come up with a nickname for you," Sirius was grinning like a child in a sweet shop.

"To do that, we'll need to help you become an animagi," though much more calm, Remus appeared equally excited.

"If he's as good as James and Lily, he'll have it down by Christmas," Sirius commented. Harry could only smile as he listened to their plans. The Malfoys had no idea what was coming.

_HP*HG_

_Please note, I'm not from the UK, so all the slang used was through research. If someone from the UK notices something used in the wrong text, or has suggestions of other slang/insults, feel free to let me know. Hope you've enjoyed, (and yes, I did have too much fun with the Draco vs Harry scene) please don't forget to review!_

_~Nemarra_

_PS: to anyone curious:_

_Epithymia: Greek for 'desire'_

_Amatoris: combination of the Latin phrase Amator Oris which roughly translates to 'Lover's Breath' (wanted it to be 'Lover's Voice' but the translation was too awkward)._


	6. Chapter 5

_So here it is, the last update of March 2012. Hope you guys have enjoyed so far, and I will see you all on April 1st. Please be sure to leave a review! Thanks._

_~Nemarra_

Chapter 5

_One weeks later..._

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" _crash_. Another scream. The sound of armour falling soon followed. Finally...

"POTTER!" Hermione- who had been sweeping the patio- glanced up to the balcony she knew belonged to the master bedroom. The double door windows were wide open to the evening cool allowing her to hear the events upstairs. There were raised voices, though what they were saying was unclear. Then there was a flash of light and a body was sent soaring out. Not just any body either. "Harry!" she shouted recognizing the air-born boy. She dropped her cleaning broom and drew her wand casting a motion slowing charm in a matter of seconds. Instead of cracking every bone in his body, Harry hit the ground with a soft _thud_. With his life no longer in immediate danger, Hermione raced to find him where he had landed in the largest garden.

Harry, for his part, did not seem too bothered by the fact he had just been shot twenty feet out of a second story window. He sat up and dusted off the dirt and flowers that he had landed in. "Harry!" Hermione called to him searching through the hedges. "Harry, where are you?" At her call, Harry stiffly forced his sore body to stand. "There you are!" Hermione sighed upon seeing him. "Are you alright?" She instantly started looking him over.

"Fine thanks," Harry answered. He felt a bit guilty for making her worry... again. It was not his fault the Malfoys were brutal when dealing out punishment.

"I've warned you Lord Malfoy has been known to throw someone out a window! You could have been killed!"

"Not with you around... thanks for that."

Hermione become slightly flustered, "Oh Harry... what am I ever going to do with you?"

"Join in my quest to admitting the Malfoys to St. Agatha's Mental Institution?" Harry shrugged.

Hermione huffed and shook her head. Even so, she was smiling just a little. "What did you do this time?" she sighed.

"Let a few martens loose in the master bedroom and locked the Malfoys inside."

"And how many is 'a few'?"

"Thirty-nine... if you count Draco."

"Do I want to know what you mean by that?"

"Probably not," Harry smirked. He momentarily wondered if the Malfoy parents had figured out how to change their son back yet. If they even knew which one was him. Harry made a mental note to thank Sirius again for the spell.

Hermione shook her head again. "Come on, then, you can finish cleaning the patio while I get to work on the sun room."

"You don't want to go in there," Harry warned.

"Harry..."

"I didn't ruin anything," he defended. "But most of the room has a sticky charm on it to catch whoever goes in there."

"Fine, I'll help you finish up the patio, and we can go clean the ballroom after that." Then she noticed the mischievous glint in Harry's eyes. "Don't tell me you bogie-trapped the ballroom too."

"No, only the sun room... and maybe Draco's bedroom... several times."

Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose with her eyes shut trying to stop a slowly rising headache, "What did you do to the ballroom then?"

"Well, it's not finished yet, but you can come see it if you'd like," he offered.

"Why not," Hermione sighed. She followed Harry back to the mansion just as the final rays of sunlight disappeared. They crossed the patio and Harry opened the massive double doors. Hermione's jaw dropped. For two out of four walls- and a bit of the third-, from ceiling to floor was graffiti. Most were pictures involving animals. Though there were plenty of stick figures with black hair and a lightening bolt scar on there head. Hermione stepped back to look through the window outside into the room. Through the glass it appeared nothing was out of the ordinary. Looking into the room from the open doors, though, one could clearly see the destruction. "Moony set up the illusion so hopefully no one will see until the Malfoys go to throw a party," Harry explained.

"Goodness Harry, how did you manage all this? We cleaned in here just yesterday!"

"I went to sneak out last night after everyone was asleep, but Padfoot and Moony caught me. So the three of us worked on it. Tonks said she'd rather lay in since she had to work today and you were so sound asleep I didn't want to bother you. But you're awake now..."

"You're joking, right? Harry, I don't like to break rules. The only major thing I've done against the family is refused to be apart of the program."

Harry shrugged and went about using his spray paint spell to continue where he had left off. "You know, Tonks told me you used to get into trouble at least twice a week," he tossed over his shoulder.

"Because I was a little girl at the time! I've grown up since then."

"But you hate it. You secretly roll your eyes every time one of the Malfoys starts acting like a royal git." He stopped and watched her. She looked at the walls chewing her lip and shifting from foot to foot.

"I..." she started. "I don't know Harry." He noticed her fingers were subconsciously stroking the scar over her neck. He wondered if perhaps punishments past were affected her decision. He _had_ just been thrown out a window for turning Draco into a marten, after all.

"Well... would you keep me company then?"

"Alright," Hermione gave. Harry smiled at her and then turned back to his work.

After several minutes of silence, Harry glanced back at Hermione again. She was seated against the door leading to the grand entry predictably with a book in hand. Harry had learned earlier on Hermione often kept more than cleaning supplies in the beaded bag she always carried with her. Not only that, but every spare moment seemed to be dedicated to reading. When she had told him she loved to read, she really meant it! He glanced at the cover realizing he had seen her reading that same book before. Curious. Had she not finished it once already?

With curiosity getting the better of him, Harry asked, "What are you reading?" She did not answer but simply held the book up for him to see the title while she continued reading. "I can't see from here," he lied. He could clearly make out the black lettering against the red book, but letters were all they were to him.

"_On the War Front: A British History_," she responded.

"What's it about?"

"The rise of blood purity. It's one of few books that are actually unbiased about the impure rebellions and such. It's absolutely fascinating; there's even copies of old records and letters between loved ones on each side from each era. You should read it, I can lend it to you if you'd like."

_Shite_, Harry mentally cursed.

"Er... thanks, but... um... I don't read a lot," he covered quickly. "Maybe you could tell me the just of it." Hermione finally looked up from her book. Her brown eyes were studying him just as they had the book a moment before. Whatever she seemed to find, however, she did not address.

"Alright," she nodded. "Let's see...Well, it starts that over a thousand years ago. Britain was full of muggles at the time living along side witches and wizards. There were so many, in fact, they even had their own monarchy; that's where we get the designs for castles and manors such as this one. Those muggles, however, feared those who could do magic, believing they were evil. That was when witch hunts began, and many who could do magic were brutally killed... often burned at the stake. It's not clear if it was anger or fear that lead witches and wizards to set about a counter attack, but eventually a war between the two broke out. Because of the unfair advantage, magics won. Nearly all the muggles in the United Kingdom, and most of Western Europe had either been killed or fled. Those that remained were enslaved to ensure they would not rise against wizarding kind again.

"As time passed, it was soon discovered some muggle couples would birth magical children. At first it was believed muggles had somehow stolen magic and gave it to their children. Thus they often killed the parents and offspring. Eventually, they discovered that muggle-borns came from those with squib ancestors. It was believed that the bloodlines of muggle-born were tainted and diseased because our ancestor had lost their magic for a time. That's why our kind our called 'impure'. It put us in a category no better than muggles, so we were enslaved as well. We were not even allowed to practice magic. At least, until it became clear that without learning magic, muggle-born would often have dangerous bouts of accidental magic. After some time, however, many pures did not like the idea of enslaving children no different than their own. Or they were in love with impures but couldn't marry. It was that frame of thought that lead to the first campaign.

"Unfortunately, the campaign was denied, which eventually lead to the first impure rebellion. The rebellion was fought for nearly thirty years before the pures surrendered and agreed to abolish enslavement. All the muggles went into hiding; though there are entire muggle villages found throughout Europe today. For magics, though, pures and impures lived together in relative harmony for nearly one hundred years. Most pures, however, held the prejudice again impures, and chose to only breed with another pure. The result was a dwindling number of pure-bloods and an increased number of muggle-born and half-bloods.

"Threatened by the rising numbers, pures set about a genocide that killed thousands. In the end, despite most being uncomfortable with the idea of enslavement, pures agreed they felt too threatened to leave impures be. That's when blood restrictions began. With the passing years, restrictions on the muggle-born and half-bloods grew worse and worse. Frightened that they might be enslaved again, impures rebelled. Not having a proper education in magic, however, lead to the rebels' downfall. It simply proved to the pures that impures were a danger. So those deemed impure were divided from one another, and kept under watch of those of pure-blood status. As for the half-bloods of a pure and impure joining, it was decided as long as both parents were a witch and wizard a half-blood could be considered a New Blood Pure. Somewhere along the lines they added that if the impure parent was a muggle-born, it had to be proven their bloodline was magic worthy. Anyway, there were restrictions to Half-bloods being recognized as pures. Many of which you know since it has remained that way for hundreds of years. There were several more small rebellions throughout history since then, but they were always unsuccessful. The only one that has really made an impact was the latest one lead by a group known as the Order of the Phoenix."

"Yeah, I heard about them," Harry said from where he had sat down near Hermione. It had admittedly taken him a bit of effort to remain focused on what she was telling him. Even backed by Hermione's excitement, Harry found history rather boring. "They had a bunch of branches throughout Europe doing all sorts of things."

Hermione nodded, "They not only managed to rescue and upward of seventy thousand impures, but converted dozens of long time pure-blood families to the cause, infiltrated the Ministry, and some branches were responsible for assassinations on a number of blood purist that wanted to re-instate enslavement. Of course, many of the branch leaders were caught and executed... your parents included, Harry."

"My parents were part of the Order?"

"Well, according to chapter twenty-seven, your grandparents had been involved during the Order's first formation. They worked undercover as Aurors, I believe," Hermione flipped through towards the end of the book. Now reading from the page, she continued, "Right. When they grew ill and passed away, there division was passed on to their only son... your father, James Potter. Of course, no one knew of the Potters' involvement until Peter Pettigrew betrayed them as well as the leaders of several other branches that he knew of."

"Do you think that means Padfoot and Moony are involved with the Order?" Harry wondered out loud.

"Not directly. Tonks had went in search of the Order when..." Hermione's hand went to her scar again. She cleared her throat when she realized she had trailed off, and started again, "She checked through every possible record and rumour of the known member of the Order. Eventually she discovered your father was a Marauder, and figured if she could find the remaining Marauders she would find the Order. Except no one had seen Sirius or Remus since Pettigrew's death. Eventually, Sirius somehow found out Tonks was looking for them, and contacted her. After a year, they met face to face. Apparently Sirius and Remus have still been receiving messages from the Order for jobs, but they don't actually know anything about the headquarters or who else is involved. They don't even know who is involved with the Order anymore."

"So wait, the Order still exists? I thought it had been destroyed years ago," Harry stated somewhat confused.

"Well, I've heard it's not much anymore, but Remus says the Order is still active... just subtle enough for the Ministry to cover up from the public."

"Just like the Ministry to do that. Did Tonks ever make contact with the Order?"

"No. She tried, but never got a response for some reason."

"Curious..."

"Anyway, Harry, it's getting late. We still need to finish the pool room, music room, and grand stairwell before bed."

"No we don't."

"Harry."

"I mean it. This place is always so clean, we can afford to skiv off a room or two every so often."

"It's so clean because we keep it that way."

"Come on, Hermione. You know it's true."

"You're determined to get me into trouble, aren't you?"

"It's more fun than doing it alone," Harry half-grinned.

Hermione shook her head. She settled her book back into her beaded bag, "Fine. It might help the illusion we're having a secret relationship anyway." Harry burst into a full smile now. "But..." Hermione pointed her finger in the air, "you have to read _On the War Front_. Deal?" Harry deflated completely. "Oh for goodness sake! Reading isn't all that bad!" Hermione huffed.

"I wouldn't know," Harry muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"No one ever taught me to read. They figured it would help keep me from causing more trouble."

Hermione's mouth became a perfect 'o' as the truth came forth. "I'm sorry... I didn't know," she quickly apologized.

Harry shrugged uncomfortably, "Just don't tell anyone, alright?"

"Oh! Of course. In fact, would you like me to teach you?"

"You don't have to."

"But I want to. There are so many thing you could learn from being able to read! Spells, enchantments, history, facts of life..."

"I get it," Harry stopped her before she went all out. "I've done fine without it," he stopped when he noticed her eyes becoming disappointed. Then he added, "but if you think I should learn, then fine." There was that mischievous glint again. "But you still have to join in rule breaking with me."

Hermione gain a thoughtful look as though she were torn between agreeing or not. "As long as you read every book I suggest once you are able to," she outstretched her hand to Harry. He accepted, and they shook hands. "Now, I suppose we should finish decorating before bed," she looked about the room. "What was the spell you've been using?"

"Padfoot taught it to me..." He quickly showed her the movements and incantation. She repeated perfectly. "Wow, that was fast," Harry commented when Hermione succeeded the first try.

"It's fairly simple... you'll see what I mean when your reading advance spell books," she responded. "How do you change colours?"

"Right. Just say the colour and then the spell... like this," Harry turned to his painting and started on it again with green. "See?"

Hermione nodded. She practised by firing shots of colour onto the floor. After about ten minutes, she looked up to Harry's current painting. "Why are you fighting a basilisk with a sword?"

"It's not a basilisk... It's Draco as a giant ferret. I made him green because white on white walls doesn't work."

"But where are the legs then?"

"I'm not done yet," Harry snipped. He looked at his painting. At the moment, it really did look like his stick figure self was battling a giant serpent. And the way he made his stick self hold a wand _did_ sort of look like he was wielding a sword. "Actually, yeah... I'm fighting a basilisk with a sword. Because I do heroic stuff like that."

Hermione giggle. "Well how are you going to fight it? One look in a basilisk's eye could kill you."

"I'll look at it's reflection like that one guy that battled Medusa did."

"Medusa was a Gorgon though. People turned to stone when they looked directly at her. I think looking at a basilisk's reflection would get you petrified."

Harry gave her a look. She just always had to be logical, didn't she? He levitated himself until he was higher than the snake's head. Using orange, he made a childish doodle of a bird. "A phoenix comes and scratches it's eyes out," Harry answered as he touched down. He gave her a smile daring her to challenge his story again.

Hermione accepted, "Alright. But why are you fighting this basilisk to begin with?"

_Good one_. "Er... because... it's protecting something?"

"Well that's believable. So where am I?"

"You? Er... you came to help but looked at it's reflection and became petrified." Harry quickly doodled a stick version of Hermione. "So now I have to slay the basilisk, and then I can use it's blood to return you to normal." _Take that!_

"Harry! Basilisk blood is used in poisons, not as a cure to petrification!" her voice carried the laughter she was fighting to not let loose.

"Well what is used then?"

"Stewed mandrake root."

"Fine..." Harry went about making little plant sprouts behind the snake. "The basilisk is protecting the last mandrakes in the world, and we went to fight it because there are lots of petrified people that need stewed mandrake root."

"Why are so many people petrified?"

"Because of some evil book," Harry drew a little black book between the serpent and the stick figures. Hermione crossed her arms recognizing the dig immediately. "But I destroyed the book after I killed the basilisk. Happy?" He started switched back to green to add scales to the snake.

"Certainly. Oh no! You were hurt fighting the basilisk!" childish mocking was thick in her voice. Harry could not help but let a goofy grin mark his face.

"Oh really? How'd that happen?"

"Well, you killed the basilisk by striking the sword through the soft pallet of its mouth stabbing the beast's brain. But in doing so, one of it's highly venomous fangs was lodged in your arm."

"But the phoenix saved me," Harry countered. "It was so moved by my heroism it started to cry."

"Harry, you already used the phoenix as your reason! Think of something new."

"Well what would you suggest?"

Hermione's eyes wandered about the other pictures. "We could get a philosopher's stone." She walked over to a cartoon picture on the far wall of a three headed dog. The give that Harry had not done this picture was that above each head was the names "Narcissa", "Lucius", and "Draco". "Which is being guarded by this ugly three headed dog," Hermione added a red smug under the dog to be the stone.

It was Harry's turn to catch Hermione with logic, "but if basilisk venom is so deadly, I wouldn't live long enough to get to the stone let alone use it."

"Well we can say it was a young basilisk, so it's venom wasn't as potent. That way you have 24 hours instead. And since you got the mandrake root, I'm no longer petrified and can help."

"So how are we going to get from over here to over there?" Harry waved at the distance between the two pictures.

"We'll fly, of course."

"On the back of this hippogriff here," Harry pointed to the beast above a centaur next to a unicorn.

Hermione laughed a little, "alright. But we have to ask permission from the centaur first."

Harry smirked and approached the picture. "Hey, you mind if we borrow the hippogriff?" he asked it. "No? Gee thanks!" Now he was trying not to laugh. He was doing a great deal better than Hermione who had to cover her mouth to stop herself. "Here, I'll give you a present as thanks." He meant to draw a Quaffle, but forgot to change the spell from green to red. He shrugged it off and continued to make the misshapen ball. Then changing to pink, he added a large bow. "There," he said.

Hermione snorted a laugh, but quickly recovered, "A toad? Really Harry?"

He looked at the picture and realized that in green with the couple of mess ups he had done, the quaffle really did look like a large, ugly toad. "Well he might like a pet," Harry countered. "Anyway, so we're off on the hippogriff to the dog's home..."

"Inside a castle," Hermione cut in. She started to draw a simple castle next to the dog.

"Why is it inside a castle?"

"Why are we riding a hippogriff?"

"Right... so we make it to the castle, and a friendly giant agrees to look after the hippogriff for us. Then I use the sword again to kill the dog..."

"You don't have to kill it Harry, it's just a guard dog," Hermione started to doodle in a harp. "Besides, you're weakening from the venom in you. You couldn't fight it. But I'll enchant this harp to play music, to sooth the dog to sleep." She painted a couple 'z's over the dog's heads. "Now we can grab the stone."

"Wait! Now there's giant spider's everywhere! They want the stone to keep the biggest spider alive."

"Well they can't have it!" She grabbed Harry's hand. "I'll grab the stone, and disapparate us way over here." She pulled Harry over to the blank wall.

"Way to go, you just dumped us in a lake," Harry started to paint the wall and windows blue.

"Oh no! And we've upset the local merpeople too. They're dragging us down to the bottom of the lake."

"Well, I managed to grab this plant from shore before they did. When we eat it, it will temporarily give us gills and webbed hands and feet. That way we can out swim the merpeople." He went to work on making the merpeople while Hermione made an island with a stick her and Harry.

"Now I can use the stone to save you," Hermione stated. Her stick figure holding the stone out to stick Harry.

"Good... I was worried I wasn't going to make it."

"Well you shouldn't be. You see, you saved my life from this terrible Troll, and now I go wherever you go."

"Was the Troll before or after the basilisk?"

"Before, obviously."

"So even if I decided to dedicated my life to travelling around to find and destroy super dark magical artifacts and we lived in a drafty tent living off of whatever we can find, you'd still stay?"

"Promise. Even if the love of my life told me to go with him and leave you behind, I'd stay."

"How very sweet of you, Miss Granger," a familiar cold voice sliced through the joy filled atmosphere. Both teens turned about incredibly tense with being caught. Standing at the door was none other than Lucius Malfoy, and he was clearly not impressed.

_Some hours later..._

Harry smirked to himself as he glanced at Hermione once again. She was busy mumbling to herself while scrubbing the painted wall. He snickered under his breath at the display of a very colourful Hermione. It seemed louder than expected in the otherwise silent room. Hermione instantly turned on him with a deadly glare. The threat behind it, however, was lost with her face painted yellow with a blue patch over her right eye. That- with her bushy hair done into rainbow- just made Harry snicker more.

"Oh enough Harry!" she hissed.

"Sorry," he muttered trying not to even smile. Yet try as he may to focus on scrubbing the wall, seeing his own multi-coloured self made a grin he could not force down. "You know, blue looks fetching on you," he teased. One of the animated rags suddenly slapped itself onto Harry's face. Taken by surprise, Harry dropped his brush, and pulled at the rag on his face. He stumbled back right into the water bucket he had been using. He tripped, knocking over the bucket, and landed his bottom in the forming puddle that made the various colours in his robes bleed and blend. Hermione naturally burst into a fit of giggles. Deciding he liked her laughing better than her glaring, Harry let the attack slide and even laughed some himself. "Come on, you, I'm not washing this all by myself," Hermione said when she finally calmed her laughter.

Harry- still highly amused- set back to work. As he started to scrub again, he said, "So, I was thinking tomorrow we could turn everything in the master bedroom pink and frilly as pay back."

"Harry!"

"What?"

_HP*HG_

_Short explanation for the above scene: During the beginning stages of 'The Unpure' (Which, at the time was called 'The Forgotten'), Harry and Hermione were a couple of orphan kids that were secretly enslaved by Death Eaters under Voldemort's rule. As such, there was a lot of scenes involving them being regular kids despite their conditions creating a rather emotional story. Eventually, I scraped it in favour of them being older because 1) Drastic changes in plot design (including removing Voldemort all together, and them growing into rebels against the blood purists), 2) I wouldn't have to do giant time skips so they could do more complex spell work, and 3) to form a more romantic than friendship bond between them. Still, I had always enjoyed this one scene of them playing their canon lives for pretend (a hollow tree was Hogwarts, the gardens was the third task maze, a toad from the pond was Umbridge, etc). I had written it even though I knew I wouldn't be able to fit it into 'The Unpure'. I guess I still sometimes consider writing 'The Forgotten'. With this re-write- and the need to lighten up this chapter after the rather boring history dump- however, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to finally get the idea out there. Hope you guys liked it._

_~Nemarra_


	7. Chapter 6

_Sorry folks, only the one chapter this time round. With College exams bogging me down, I didn't get to finish Chapter 7. I tried finishing it up this morning, but I don't have enough time to edit it tonight. Since I don't generally like 'hot off the press' chapters (too many mistakes), it's only one chapter this month. Hope you enjoy, and see you all again May 1st._

Chapter 6

So Harry did not get to turn the master bedroom pink and frilly. He did, however, turn all the lavatories and bathing rooms into winter wonderlands. Not the nicest conditions to attempt re-leaving one's self or bathing in, unless you were a penguin. Lucius had countered by making the dorm into a desert. Though Hermione and the adults knew charms to keep themselves cool that night, none of them helped Harry since it was his own fault. Thus, Harry covered their clothes in glitter charms. Tonks and Sirius loved it. Remus just laughed before undoing the charm, but it was Hermione who exacted revenge through a vanishing charm on his clothes triggered by the word 'Potter'. Much to Draco's amusement. His revenge was still in the plotting phase since most of the things he thought up would likely ruin their fragile blooming friendship.

The two of them had also begun Harry's reading lessons. At first, Harry was not sure of the idea. His ego often saw to frustrated blow outs that Hermione would eventually jinx him to calm down. Yet, as time passed, he found comfort in sitting beside Hermione wherever they found a quiet spot during their lunch break. It was memorizing listening to her tell him about the alphabet and vowels verse constants. By the end of the week- once his frustration subsided and he actually started to pay attention- Harry could already do his ABCs and spell words like 'at' and 'the'. He was fairly proud of himself and wondered how he did not just learn to read on his own it was so easy! He also liked the fact during each lesson he and Hermione also had a chance to just talk about anything. From meaningless babble, to heartfelt talks about their pasts, presents, and ideal futures. She wished to travel and learn everything she could about the many cultures first hand that she only knew from books. He wanted the chance to visit his parents graves, and then live in peace just as they would have wanted him to. Slowly, without even realizing it, they were trusting one another.

In the mean time, Harry was also wearing down on Hermione's reluctance to prank. She had stopped trying to discourage him, and was rolling her eyes or shaking her head less and less. He was persistent when he noticed the new spark in her eyes. It seemed the thrill of revenge had ignited an old fire that had nearly been extinguished. Thus, despite the extra cleaning, various counter pranks- which Lucius was always rather clever about-, and even a few times under the mark, she was right by Harry's side once again pulling one over on the Malfoys. For the first time in his life, Harry knew what it was like to have a friend. Needless to say, he liked it.

He was also liking his time with Sirius and Remus. He liked Tonks as well, but she was away a lot with work... as an Auror no less! Who would have thought with her being a first gen pure? Remus and Sirius were always happy to make a trip to the manor when not called on by the Order. They loved to talk about their school days with James and stories of their meeting Lily. They said they knew instantly she was the woman that stole James' heart. They told him about their own lives. Like how Remus taught Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts under the identity of 'Romulus Canin'. He found it ironic that only a short time ago, he was the teacher of his- now- fiancee, and she had not even known it. That realization had prompted Sirius into making up a song he called '_Hot for Professor'_. It was rather good in Harry's opinion, but short lived the moment Tonks had gained wind of it. Until a couple days later, that is, when Hermione asked him if he knew what the tune she had heard Tonks humming was.

Sirius, on the other hand, worked inside the three muggle villages throughout Southern England. Granted, the term 'worked' was loosely used. His job was to keep an eye out for potential muggle-born witches and wizards, and send word to the Order in hopes of helping that child and their family before the Ministry discovered them. There was also the fair share of times he had to chase off some black market wizards looking for easy targets. It did not always work, but it was better than nothing at all. The interesting side of it was the muggles did not know Sirius was human; let alone a wizard. It was the perfect cover, and he loved being around the kids.

Harry even came to learn Tonks' story. Apparently her mother was the sister of Narcissa Malfoy. Andromeda Black had been one of the many who's blood purity ideals were changed by the Order back when they first formed. With her changed ways, she met a muggle-born wizard named Ted Tonks, and the pair fell in love. For three years they managed to hide their relationship... until Tonks was born. Luckily, Andromeda had managed to get Tonks her purity papers before her paternity was discovered. Unfortunately, when Tonks was nearly eight years old, Andromeda and Ted were arrested and sentenced life in Azkaban. That meant Tonks was to either be taken in by pure-blood relatives, or have her status confiscated. It was only because of the bond shared with her sister that Narcissa opened her home to her niece. That did not, however, mean Tonks was welcomed as one of the family; especially when she made the point she was true to her parents' ideals. She was marked, and treated no better than the other impures. It was only because of a trust fund her mother had left her that allowed Tonks to attend Hogwarts. For now, she still needed to bide her time until her status was made irreversible on her thirtieth birthday. Once that happened, she swore the first thing she was going to do was marry Remus, and shag him until she was pregnant. Having to put life on hold until she was thirty was a long enough wait for her.

Together, Remus and Sirius were also teaching Harry the tools of the Marauder trade, though Remus often included a lesson or two about duelling spells. It was invigorating. Not to mention, in just a few more weeks, they would know what his animagus form would be (even if he could not yet change into it).

In all the madness of the prank war, reading lessons, Marauder lessons, and sharing of stories, Harry did not notice he had been at the manor for two and a half weeks already. That is, until one day in the late evening...

_Present day..._

Exhausted, sore, and rather grumpy, Harry made his way alone towards the kitchens for a well earned meal. Narcissa had decided to have Harry move heavy lounge furniture without use of magic for a change of pace. Then she had him move it all back because she liked the old way better. He had a feeling this was for hexing the furniture to give the first person to sit on them a sudden break out of hives. Well, it was worth seeing all the posh women Narcissa had invited for tea covered in angry rashes and boils. He would like to see her social image recover from that!

Harry's mind returned to the present when his stomach growled. He had missed supper thanks to the mountain load of chores on top of his afternoon of Narcissa's weight lifting exercises. Yet, when he entered the kitchen, he found quiet the surprise. Instead of the little servants table baring a pot of some type of soup with bread, there was a platter of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots with a whole pitcher of pumpkin juice. A small card sat next to the plate with the words "Happy Birthday, Mister Potter". Harry's first reaction was a smile. He had completely forgotten today was his birthday.

He picked up the card and looked it over. Quickly, all sorts of warning bells began to ring in his head. The Malfoys were the only ones to call him 'Mister Potter'. Perhaps that Dobby fellow did too; Harry still had not met him. Either way, anyone that called Harry by his sir name was not someone with his interests in mind. Now Harry was officially the age of consent. The perfect time for Lucius Malfoy to force Harry and Hermione together without cause for investigation from the Ministry. Kids would be kids, after all. Not to mention, they _were_ apart of that damned breeding program. It was still questionable if Lucius was so impatient for results he would drug them before Hermione was of age in about another six weeks, but it was better to be vigilant when the Malfoy Lord was involved.

Harry glared at the plate of food. His rage was encouraged by his growling stomach to the wonderful smell. Then his eyes turned to the pitcher. Maybe the food was not contaminated, but was a decoy to the real drug. Or maybe it was the other way around. Harry did not know, but he did know neither substance could be trusted. It looked like he was going to be sneaking out to the orchard tonight.

He took the pitcher, and dumped the drink down the drain. Just as he picked up the plate of food to toss in the trash, he heard the tell tale sign of a person falling down the stairs behind the door to the servant's stairs. Before Malfoy manor, Harry would have instantly rushed to see if the person was alright. Living with the ever clumsy Tonks, however, changed matters completely. How else did he recognize the sound of a person falling down stairs so well? Still he kept a listening ear toward the door for Tonks to curse at her clumsy nature- like she often did- to find out if she was injured or not. He was a little unnerved to not hear anything.

"Tonks? Are you alright?" he called to the closed door. He was met with silence at first. As he set down the plate and made for the door, he could hear retching on the other side. He yanked the door open forcing his eyes to adjust to the stairwell's poor lighting. He could make out the figure struggling to get to their feet with emesis on the ground in front of them. First thing he came to notice, though, was a head of long, bushy brown hair instead of short, spiky pink. "Hermione?"

Hermione's head shot up to look at Harry. Her eyes were wide in a blend of surprise and fear. Her breath was shallow and her face sweaty. Her whole body was shaking as she leaned against the wall for support. Seeing him, she tried to move from her knees to her feet, but was stumbling drunkenly about for her effort. Harry quickly caught her to lend support. Immense heat radiating off her through their mild contact. Her limbs seemed to be giving out under her to the point Harry was almost completely holding her up. He was surprised how light she seemed. It was really rather worrying, but he passed it off as his muscles being use to carrying around heavy furniture all afternoon.

Putting the thought aside, Harry lead Hermione into the kitchen trying to hold her up the best he could. She groaned with the movements, and her face seemed uncomfortable. Seconds later, she was once again emptying her stomach. This time down the front of both Harry and herself. He cringed at the mess, but said nothing. He settled her down on a chair, and was at work with a cleaning charm instantaneously. "What happened?" he did not mean to sound so demanding, but he was fighting with his own panic. It seemed through her laboured breathing, Hermione was unable to verbally answer. She looked sideways at the table where the plate and card sat. Ever shaky, she persistently tapped at the folded paper. Harry's eyebrows knitted in confusion. Hermione looked at him with eyes that were willing him to understand. When he did not seem to get it, she threw as much strength as she had into knocking the food onto the floor before resting her arm and head on the table.

Understanding broke through Harry's panicked mind. "You've been drugged with potion," he stated. Hermione nodded. The motion of her head leaned her forward a little too far and she fell towards Harry. He grabbed her shoulders and steadied her back into place. He was terrified to touch her, but he did not want to just let her fall to the tile floor. "How?" he asked. Hermione's mouth moved as though trying to to answer, but the only noise coming out were small squeaks between heavy pants. Harry jumped when he felt her other hand on his backside. He now watched her wide eyed from a few steps back. She appeared frustrated with him, and started point to his hip. He looked down to see his shrunken canteen dangling from his back belt loop.

The canteen! Of course. Harry had learned from his past homes to always keep his within reach if he did not want any nasty surprises in it. Hermione, however, kept hers in her bag with everything else. The very bag she would leave laying about while cleaning a room. Harry nodded to signal he understood. "I'll go get help," he said hastily. He raced out of the kitchen down the spiral stairs to the cellar. "Tonks!" he shouted when he neared the bottom. The familiar pink hair woman hurriedly slipped past the curtain split to greet him.

"Harry, what's wrong?"

"It's Hermione," Harry explained quickly. As soon as the words left Harry's mouth, Tonks was off up the stairs. Harry was racing after her with equal pace. He did not need to look back to know Remus and Sirius were steps behind him. "Where is she?" Tonks demanded from over her shoulder.

"In the kitchen," Harry answered just as they reached the top. They all made for the kitchen door with Sirius hanging back and Remus flipping on his invisibility cloak in case of watchful eyes. Harry watched a little ways back as Tonks scanned Hermione with her wand. The emesis on the floor indicated she had thrown up once again while he was gone. She was deathly pale yet her cheeks were rosy. Sweat poured down her body. She was still trembling and looked to be in serious pain.

"Hermione, can you understand me?" Tonks asked gently. Hermione swayed some, but there was a slight nodding in her motions. Her hands gripped the table and chair arm. "Do you recognize who I am?" Hermione half-nodded again.

"Area is secure," Remus announced showing himself near the ice box door. "The Malfoys have all gone to their rooms." Sirius finally entered the kitchen. He squeezed Harry's shoulder as support against the boy's rising panic.

"Have you been drugged with a potion?" Tonks was still asking Hermione questions. Hermione nodded as she set her head on her arm on the table. "How?" Tonks encouraged.

"Her canteen, I think," Harry answered. "She kept motioning to mine when I tried asking."

"Hermione, do you have your canteen with you?" Remus asked as he carefully set his hand on her shoulder. Hermione shot away as though his touch had been that of hot metal. The sudden motion had her stumbling to her feet into the table. Both she and the table toppled to the floor. Tonks went to catch the falling girl, but Remus stopped her. "Don't touch her, Dora," he explained. "Most of her symptoms match the _Pathos_ potions, from what I've read. Though, from what I recall, none of them involve vomiting. I can't be sure without the canteen."

"I'm on it," Sirius was quickly replaced with a large black dog.

"Take my cloak so the portraits don't see you," Remus advised.

"I'll go with him as back up," Tonks spoke up. She looked at Hermione and added, "just hang on, I'll be right back." She snatched up Remus' cloak and hurried after Sirius up the servant stairs.

"Hermione, are you still with us?" Remus asked noting Hermione's eyes had started to glaze over. She looked at him ever terrified, and clearly did not recognize him. Remus sighed, "I fear it's taking full effect. Harry, I need you to help me make a winter scene. The cold should help bring down her fever enough not to do any long lasting damage."

"Right," Harry nodded. Without thought, Harry set about casting various cooling and ice charms. Remus mimicked his movements. One problem became clear almost instantly.

"It's not working," Harry growled.

"It could be temperature control charms," Remus concluded. "Lucius has most likely been setting up counter spells to ensure you don't do the same prank twice."

"What about the ice box?"

"Dora told me Dobby has orders to lock down all food storage when he leaves for the night. It would take us less time to try to undo the temperature control charm than a house elf's lock magic."

"Dobby's a house elf?"

"Of course. You didn't think Lucius would spend the money on a wizard chef, did you?" Harry had to admit, Remus had a point. As rich as they were, the Malfoys were fairly stingy about their spending habits. A house elf was far cheaper, with just as good quality. It was probably also the reason Harry had yet to meet Dobby. House elves were generally ordered to stay out of sight unless called on.

Hermione's pained sobs drew Harry's attention to her once more. She was curled into a ball on the floor as her body trembled between chocked sobs. She looked horribly fragile. It was as if she was barely clinging to life. There had to be some way to cool her down. "If I remember correctly, isn't there a pool?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, there is," Harry was relieved to hear some sort of idea.

"Hopefully it will help. Now the problem lays in moving Hermione."

"Won't levitation work?"

Remus shook his head, "Any spells that control or restrict movement would increase her fever to a fatal level. She will have to be moved by muggle means, but as you saw, no one should touch her."

"I can. I helped her get from the stairs to in here."

"That's because it's part of the potion's purpose. The _Pathos_ potions create an unbearable heat within the body that increases over a duration of time. Left be, the fever would reach the same heat as scarlet fever, thus killing the drinker. The only hope of survival is to either keep the drinker cool enough until it wears off in six hours, or the counter is administered."

"The counter isn't a potion, is it?" Harry droned.

"I'm afraid not. The counter depends on which one was used. There are three types, all colourless and tasteless. Only by smell could you tell one from another. Touch alone relieves all three, but _Derma_ is the only one cured by touch alone. _Salio_ is through snogging. And _Fylo_ is through... well... er..." Though Remus was uncomfortable, Harry was full blown blushing.

Trying to brush it off, Harry spoke, "Right. Er... So I _could_ carry her to the pool then, and it would even help her fever."

"And in doing so, confirm you are the key to the cure. Once she knows that, under the potion's influence Hermione would go to great lengths to complete whichever deed is required to cure her. And it's safe to assume she was not given _Derma _or _Salio_. It's better no one touches her, and we find an environmental means to cool her fever."

Harry nodded, "Um... what if I got one of the blankets from the dorm, and we use it like a stretcher?"

"Good idea. I will stay here to keep watch while waiting for Dora and Padfoot to return. You get the blanket, and, while you are down there, see if there are temperature control charms in place."

Harry nodded. He ran out of the room once again heading down to the dorm. Reaching the bottom, he quickly went about casting the winter scene spell on the whole basement. Sure enough, the room cooled exponentially. The stone walls and small windows became slick with ice covering. Clouds appeared over head, and snow began to fall. Harry sighed with relief; his breath came out in a moist cloud. Finally, something was going right. He made for the 'closet' but paused a moment when he noticed a couple decorations and a table with a cake and presents on it inside the dorm. He could not help smiling when he realized they had remembered it was his birthday. It was a shame they could not celebrate until Hermione was better; it looked as though they had put quiet a bit of effort into preparing.

Remembering his suffering friend, Harry quickly went back to his task of fetching a blanket. Once he selected a large comforter, he dashed towards the divide. The light covering of snow crunched under his shoes. He threw aside the sheet, and stopped. The metal gate that was usually left open on the stairway was closed. Confused, Harry approached the metal bars. When he pulled at them, the metal rattled, but remained in place. He tossed the blanket aside to pull harder with both hands. All he received was cold hands for his troubles. He came to notice the padlock and chain. It was clearly locked, but he tugged at it to be sure.

A chill not related to the cold crept up Harry's spine. He tried to glace up the spiral stairs the best he could, but no one was within sight. "Hello?" he called. No answer. Harry jumped at the unexpected feeling of someone touching his thigh. Whipping around, he came face to face with a pair of glazed brown eyes. Hermione's brown eyes, to be exact. The way she was watching him made Harry suddenly gulp. He looked about for any sign of someone else, but there were only his tracks and her's vanishing as the snow fell. "Where's Moony?" he asked nervously. His breath came out in a cold cloud.

"In the kitchen," she answered as though she were telling a joke. Well, at least she had cooled enough to breath easy enough to speak.

"Er... why didn't he come down here?"

"Because I stunned him."

"Why?"

"So we won't be disturbed," she drew closer to him.

"Tonks and Padfoot..."

"It will take them until morning to get past all the wards I've placed on the stairwell."

Harry gulped again, "Hermione, listen to me, you're not acting like yourself."

"I know," she responded in her usual matter-of-fact tone. Her words threw Harry for a loop. Hermione explained, "I know it's a potion. I know it will kill me if nothing is done. I tried puking pastilles, but they weren't enough. And this snow is brilliant, but I need more. I need the one that the potion is keyed to." At this she drew uncomfortably close to Harry. Her mouth so close to his he could taste her hot breath. "I need you, Harry," she breathed softly. Goosebumps covered Harry's flesh as he looked at her wide eyed. His back was pressed fully against the gate bars. Out of instinct, his hand went for his wand. Only his pocket was empty. He chanced a glance down as he pat his pockets on both sides. Empty.

Hermione giggled and pressed her body full against Harry's. He was instantly aware of every one of her curves. "Looking for something?" She smiled mischievously as she held up Harry's wand within his view.

"Give that back!" Harry growled trying to ignore the proximity of their bodies and the heat radiating off Hermione. He made to snatch the wand from her, but she made a calculated toss that saw the wand slip through the gate bars behind Harry. He turned around to watch as the wand landed on the step just outside his reach. "Bullocks," he cursed. He knelt down and reached through for the wand anyway, hoping he might tap it closer. No use.

"You can use my wand, Harry," Hermione offered. He looked back expecting her to be holding it out of his reach. A bargain entailing a kiss for use of her wand. At least he hoped all she wanted was a kiss. What he saw when he turned, however, was the first two buttons of her blouse were undone. He was about to turn away for her privacy when he noticed her wand nestled in her bra between her breast. "You just have to take it," she added sweetly. A deep blush rushed over Harry that he swore it had to reach his toes.

"Er... no... no thanks," he stuttered.

"Why not?"

"Because...er... this... isn't right," he lamely offered. He returned to a full standing position with his muscles ready to make a run for it.

"But it is," she insisted as she once again moved close to him. Her hands playfully working his bow-tie. "You're a wizard. I'm a witch. We're completely alone until morning. What's wrong with helping me cure this potion?"

"Er... I'm not the key!"

The look she gave him seemed to say, 'who are you trying to fool?'. He might have found it funny if he was not more concerned with making sure the pair of them were still pure by morning. Hermione's hands snaked up around Harry's neck. A few of her fingers twirled his messy dark hair within them. "And people say I'm a terrible liar," she 'tsk'ed. Then to Harry's utter surprise, she pulled him forward as she came up for their lips to meet in a warm kiss. It was a sensation Harry had never experienced before. It was not bad; enjoyable even. Only then did reality returned like a stampede of centaur, and he forced her off him.

"Hermione, stop it!" he ordered. He did not seem to notice how tight his grip on her shoulders was.

"Ow...Oh... I-is that the problem? Would you prefer to... dominate me?" she enquired innocently. Somehow, Harry's face seemed to turn a deeper shade of red. His hands flew off her in a mock surrender. "No! No, that's not it at all!"

"Oh... do you want me to dominate you then?"

Harry squeezed his eyes shut trying to not think of the images playing his mind. "Hermione, stop it already," he groaned. A sharp slap caught him off guard.

"What was that for?" he yelled. He held his cold hands over the hot mark. Harry had been slapped before in his life time. This time, however, _really_ hurt. Was it an emotional sting of being hit by Hermione or just a matter of sudden pain after numbing cold? Either way, he glared at her reminding himself she was not thinking straight. That this was still his friend, and fighting back was not an option. Then she slapped him again on the opposite side with just as much force.

"Don't glare at your..." she started sternly, but then returned to innocent, "um? I don't know... does mistress work?"

Harry's jaw dropped, "I said stop it, not 'I want to be dominated'. Which I don't, for the record."

"Then why aren't you taking charge?"

"Because we're not going to shag!"

"Why not?"

"I don't know any other way to explain it!"

"Are you homosexual?"

"_What_? No!"

"Do you not find me attractive?"

"No. I mean, yes, you're beautiful..."

She cut him off, "Are you scared?"

"That's not it either!"

"Are you sure? I mean, it's perfectly reasonable to be nervous the first time..."

"Hermione, I'm not scared." Actually he was, but it was more for his life and limbs. Hermione was under a potion's influence... Harry was not. He was pretty sure that would be the angle Tonks and Hermione played to justify torturing him should something happen between he and Hermione. Not even Sirius and Remus could save him then.

"What's the problem, then?" she asked irritated.

"It's not right!"

"You said that already!"

"That's because it's true!"

"But you won't tell me _why_ you don't think it's right. It could be a simple misunderstanding."

"It's not a misunderstanding! It's a trap! Malfoy slipped potion into your canteen to make you want to shag because he gets a fat bag of galleons for every kid we make."

"He'll have to wait until I'm off the pill for that sack of gold."

Harry was confused again, "What's a pill?"

"Muggle Medicine. They work like potions, only it's scientific based, not magic."

Harry inwardly smirked with a new idea."Muggles have their own medicine?"

"Of course they do. They can't rely on magic or those that can do magic, can they?"

"Guess not. So what is this muggle medicine suppose to do?"

"Well, the pill I'm using makes it so a woman can't get pregnant so long as she's taking it. It was Tonks' idea to start me on it as a back up plan in case everything else failed. Lord Malfoy would know how to counter magical contraceptives, but not muggle."

"Brilliant," Harry smirked fully impressed.

"I thought so too," Hermione cooed. Her hands fiddled with the button of Harry's dress shirt while she leaned close ready to kiss him. Harry grabbed her wrists and pretended to cough.

"So... er... how'd muggles come up with such a thing?" Hermione glared at him. "I mean, there's not a lot of muggles in Europe, right?"

"Plenty more than you think, and those few are rather resourceful," she answered. "Now stop talking about muggles."

"It's interesting."

"You're just trying to waste time by distracting me."

Pause. "No, I'm not."

"I think we've already covered that you are a terrible liar," Hermione struggled to free her wrists. Harry held tighter. She looked up at him with sorrowful eyes. He knew what was coming, but he could not stop it. Sure enough, tears began to roll. He had to fight his first instinct to let go and comfort her. He hated it when girls cried.

"Harry, do you really hate me this much?" she whimpered.

"I don't hate you," Harry countered.

"But you'd rather let me die than sleep with me."

"I'm not letting you die! Moony said you'll be fine as long as we keep your fever down. That's why it's snowing in here!"

"It's not enough!" Hermione insisted.

"Now who's lying?" Harry shot. "I can feel it," he showed her where he held her wrists, "you're not as warm as when I was helping you to the kitchen chair. The cold is helping."

"_No_, you _think_ I'm colder when it's just your frozen hands passing cold onto my body," her fake crying had stopped when it was clear he would not budge. "You're what's helping me, Harry."

"Well then that means just hugging will work, right?"

There was a calculating look to Hermione's eyes. "It would need to be without clothes," she said slowly.

"We'll wear our night clothes."

"That's worse! My night gown covers more of me than my blouse and skirt."

"We're not being naked together."

"You're impossible," she grumbled.

"You'll thank me later," he finished.

"Fine," she jerked away. This time he let her go. "I'll borrow one of Tonks' pyjama shirts." She turned her back to march for the curtain divide leaving Harry to sigh with relief. That was until Hermione about faced with her wand in hand only a few paces from him.

"_Stupify_," she cast. Harry dove face down in the frigged white covering while the red spell beam rammed into the gate. Before Hermione cast again, he flung snow at her. She moved away to shield her face. He jumped up and just barely managed to snatch her wand. Fortunately, he just caught himself from casting a body binding hex on her. Remus' voice seemed to echo in his mind as a reminder he could not use magical means of restraint on Hermione. So, Harry turned to the gate lock. At least he knew more than a few good unlocking charms.

"_Aloho..._" he was suddenly stopped when Hermione slammed her full body weight into him from behind. She was now riding piggy-back with an arm around Harry's neck and the other reaching for her wand. He violently shook his body to throw her off. The result was her holding tighter with both legs and arms. He pulled at the arm around his neck to help breathe easier while the other arm held the wand far from her reach. "Get off!" he shouted.

"Give me back my wand!" she countered.

"No! _Alohomora_!" The pad lock clicked open despite the ice. Harry smirked, but then remember he still had Hermione on his back. He tossed the wand through the bars much like had happened with his own wand. With both hands free, he pried Hermione's arms off him. A sudden jerk of his body saw to what grip her knees had on his hips slip. _Crunch_. "Ouff!" Hermione huffed as she landed in the ankle deep snow.

"Sorry," Harry tossed over his shoulder. He unlatched the lock, and tossed it to the white covered ground. After untangling the chain, he gave a good yank on the gate to free it from the wall's icy hold. He dashed up the first step, made to grab the closest wand (his own), but then came tumbling back down the stairs as he collided with an invisible force. Both wands remained perched on the stairs.

Harry landed in the snow beside Hermione. Her proud grin was easily noticed. No... not proud. She was giving him a dastardly manipulative smile. One that matched the almost dark, mischievous glint to her eyes. He leaned up onto his elbows to glare. His inner prankster was slightly impressed, but mostly vengeful. His pride had suffered a few too many shots in the last hour for his liking. "Sorry. I must have forgotten to mention the wards work both ways," though her tone was as innocent as a child's, there was the slight hint of sarcasm behind it. Harry groaned as he laid back down into the snow. He had to think of a way to outsmart this witch. If he was lucky, he might just freeze to death that very minute. Of course, freezing to death was a rather long process. Maybe a heart attack. Yeah, that would work. He lived a rather stress filled life, after all. He lay there waiting for some greater power to take him. No such luck. Harry Potter was well and truly screwed.

_HP*HG_

_Translations for the curious:_

_Canin: Play on the Latin term Canis Lupus (Grey Wolf) in the same manner Rowling had turned 'Lupus' into 'Lupin'._

_All the rest are in Greek..._

_Pathos- Passion_

_Derma- Skin_

_Salio- Saliva_

_Fylo- Sex_

_Reviews are always loved and appreciated!_


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